International Women in Mining praises BHP Billiton's female representation

The International Women in Mining (IWiM) has welcomed the news of BHP’s steps to increase its female representation across its entire global operations.

Earlier this week, BHP Billiton revealed its latest figures in its quest to create a much more female oriented organisation.

In fact, we wrote about BHP Billiton’s ambition to achieve gender balance by 2025 right here.

The company has reported a 2.9% increase in female representation in 2017 since 2016, which is a success in itself, but of course, CEO Andrew Mackenzie knows the road ahead is still a long one.

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IWiM has commended the efforts made by BHP and believes that this represents a proof point that change is possible in the industry.

"It is always encouraging to see market leaders like BHP Billiton making strides in improving diversity, including gender, across their business,” says Barbara Dischinger, Director, International Women in Mining.

“It is not only a sign that this is an important strategic objective, but also confirmation that change can be achieved if the mindset is adjusted, flexibility is built in to businesses to attract all talent and management commits to it.”

“The challenge remains to move the needle across the mining sector, and to sustain these new levels of diversity: retention of diversified and complementary talent is the long-term goal for the mining sector."