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Suzi Finkelstein

well as gender now represented,” she said. Wales Mining in the NSW Minerals’ Coun-
Even in finance, legal, HR and corporate cil’s Women in Mining Awards.
affairs, where more women hold executive Robertson said facilitating changes that
positions, female representation is below have enabled women to succeed in the in-
gender parity. dustry, firstly through recruitment and then
In the mining sector, the low representa- retention, was where she had greatest im-
tion of females can be aligned with fewer pact.
numbers of women studying mining-relat- “Some years ago, it seemed to me that
ed technical subjects at university, except while more women were coming into the
in geology where the relative numbers of industry, we weren’t doing a good job in
female and male graduates have been keeping them nor enabling them to real-
more balanced. ise their full potential. I’m proud to have
“Until recently, the industry has done lit- been involved in establishing WIMnet
tle to encourage career development and NSW’s mentoring programme [which in
progression among its female workforce, June was announced as the 2020 winner
to create the pipeline of future female man- of the NSW Mineral Council’s Excellence “We must not forget that men are equal-
agers and executives. This is paramount in in Diversity Programs and Performance ly important to gender diversity in bringing
an industry where the entry point doesn’t Award]. We are in our sixth year and we their thinking and experience to the table,
allow gender parity because of the dispro- have had nearly 200 women go through and it is important that we continue to de-
portionate number of male graduates from that programme as mentees, supported velop and mentor our male talent pipeline;
university and TAFE in the requisite techni- by a large group of male and female men- I’ve been an advocate in this area too,”
cal and trade disciplines,” Robertson said. tors from senior roles within the industry,” she said.
As well as a background in corporate fi- Robertson said. “The next challenge will be to get great-
nance working for The Chase Manhattan “It is widely used in NSW as one of the er cultural diversity into our senior man-
Bank in London, New York and Sydney, tools to help develop high potential fe- agement teams, and onto our boards. We
Robertson also served a chief financial male employees. It has been great seeing need greater indigenous representation
officer at Delta Gold for eight years. More the enthusiasm and support for the pro- and greater cultural diversity, reflecting
recently, she was recognised as the 2017 gramme and the difference it is making.” the diversity in broader society. There is
Gender Diversity Champion in Austral- While advocating for more female par- significant cultural diversity in the mining
ian Resources by the Women in Mining ticipation in the mining sector, greater workforce and we need to see that better
& Resources National Awards and 2017 importance must be placed on creating reflected in our mining leadership.”
Gender Diversity Champion in New South diverse workforces, Robertson said. – Mark Andrews

A panel of female industry leaders with some of the most
diverse and creative engineering careers in Western
Australia shared their experiences via an online event –
Shaping the World – to celebrate International Women
in Engineering Day on June 23.
The event, hosted by Girls in Engineering, an outreach
programme at The University of Western Australia,
provided insight into what engineers do and encouraged
young females to consider a career in the profession.
A range of women working and studying across various
industries including automation and mining, civil and
transport engineering, software engineering, electrical
and electronic engineering and mechanical engineering,
participated in the online event, with mechatronic
engineering graduate Hannah Golding – founder of the
Girls in Engineering programme – one of the panellists.
The Girls in Engineering programme started in 2014
and is a partnership between Rio Tinto Ltd and UWA to
encourage women to study engineering.
Golding carried out research and development at UWA as Golding said it was important to celebrate the successes
a Rio Tinto graduate in the physics faculty, developing a and achievements of female engineers in the industry.
survey instrument to find the next Tier 1 deposit. “Women in Engineering Day is about celebrating the
Golding said her role was focused on discovering and progress we’ve made towards a diverse workforce and
influencing automation solutions for Rio Tinto. sharing the benefits of an engineering career to future
“My team is thinking about how we do mining now, and students,” she said.
how will this change in the future?” Golding said. Girls in Engineering has engaged with more than 8,000
students, 60 industry and 140 current university students
“For example, would we use smaller electric vehicles,
could we control diggers remotely, and can drones offer since it launched in 2014.
benefit in delivering essential items.”

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