Misogyny that won't die
The "dinosaur men" of mining and STEM
Many people might think we’ve achieved equality for women in the workforce, but we’re not quite there yet. Some might even say we’re far from it.
Bella is a proud mother who alongside raising her young family, works in Australian mining maintenance. After 13 years in the mining industry, she continues to face issues stemming from sexism and gender stereotypes.
“It’s pretty toxic in maintenance,” she says.
Bella recalled a recent event during a team meeting where their manager delivered a message to the entire workshop where the manager said, “voice your concerns now so we can air it out”.
“Somebody stood up and said that ‘there is no space for a woman in the workshop’,” Bella explains.
“He said it in front of a fourth-year female apprentice, so she went to water,
“I think the disappointing thing is that there’s so many bystanders and nobody shut him down.
“No one wants to deal with these dinosaur men.”
Bella describes a specific problem when maintenance employs many young apprentice women to be trained by older men that have worked for over 20 years, without women.
“In the last few years it’s all females, we’re only taking on female apprentices, so that is a really hard thing for the men who are teaching these apprentices.”
Currently, there are no mentoring programs run by women for these new female apprentices, “we’ve mentioned it, but nothing has got off the ground” Bella says.
She thinks that a mentoring program for women by women would be incredibly beneficial for young female apprentices. A male-dominated workplace can be intimidating, and they need support, so they don’t fall out of the industry. Bella explains, “they let things slide, they don’t speak up and they wouldn’t want to”.
This environment has the potential to foster serious issues in the form of discrimination and harassment.
THE LEAKY PIPE
The leaky pipe issue is where industries feed lots of women in, but they fall out somewhere in the middle of their careers.
Sharna Jamadar, a cognitive neuroscientist and associate professor research at Monash University Melbourne expands on this leaky pipe issue.
Supplied: Sharna Jamadar
Supplied: Sharna Jamadar
“That means there’s a lot of women entering the pipeline at early career stages but then somewhere along the pipeline they get lost,” Sharna explains.
Sharna shares her explanation of the leaky pipeline in STEM research and career disruptions that affect grants
“If you take disciplines like engineering, physics and maths, they have an issue at the beginning of the pipeline, they don’t have many women entering in the first place,” she adds.
The mining industry isn’t the only industry that suffers a leaky pipe problem, so does STEM research. STEM is a broad term used to group together disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Finishing her PhD in 2010, Sharna has been working in the male-dominated field of imaging neuroscience for 10 years.
Sharna says that it’s hard for everybody to keep their jobs in this sector, due to the lack of funding towards STEM research, which makes the work environment highly competitive. However, there are other reasons women are falling out of these industries.
Supplied: Sharna Jamadar
Supplied: Sharna Jamadar
Supplied: Sharna Jamadar
Supplied: Sharna Jamadar
Kelsey Perrykkad is a researcher at Monash University Melbourne. She is one of six post-doctoral research fellows and is the only woman. Kelsey explains why she thinks women fall out of the industry.
Supplied: Kelsey Perrykkad
Supplied: Kelsey Perrykkad
“I do think there is a leaky pipeline problem, I think there are lots of reasons for it,” she says.
“I think there is disparities with who gets grants,
“it’s re-surfaced that even having a female name on a journal article you’re more likely to get harsher comments and not get published,
“those are all the things that get us our next job, whether you have publications, whether you have grants and whether you’re continuing to get money for the university.”
Kelsey Perrykkad: advice to women breaking out into STEM
Kelsey has found herself in a supportive work environment and has high hopes for the future development of STEM industries and gender equality in all workplaces.
SEEING CHANGE
Sarah Withell started her job in Hunter Valley mining in 2001. Then, she was the only female operator on site.
Porn magazine cut-outs littered the walls of workshops, there were no female bathrooms for women working in the pits and mothers would breast pump in servo bathrooms.
Sarah’s now working as the executive general manager for health, safety and environment at Whitehaven coal.
Supplied: Sarah Withell
Supplied: Sarah Withell
Supplied: Sarah Withell
Supplied: Sarah Withell
Supplied: Sarah Withell, named Exceptional Women in NSW Mining (2019) at NSW Women in Mining Awards.
Supplied: Sarah Withell, named Exceptional Women in NSW Mining (2019) at NSW Women in Mining Awards.
Reflecting on her experience in the industry she recalls, “the thing about mining is we tend to be slow to change, we don't like change”. Nonetheless, Sarah’s seen a drastic change in her 20-plus years working in NSW mining and has high hopes for the upward trajectory of gender equality.
“Having big organisations like BHP set gender diversity targets I think has been a game changer,” Sarah says.
Large companies such as BHP with 80,000 employees worldwide and 2,000 here in the Hunter Valley can create a multitude of change for gender equality. BHP’s diversity and inclusion incentives to achieve gender balance seem to be making a difference throughout the industry.
“I actually think there's a lot of people doing the right thing, or wanting to do the right thing,” she says.
Sarah’s also been a part of the Australian Women in Mining mentoring program (AusIMM) for six years.
“I think a key bit about that is actually building their confidence, ensuring that you’re kind of a safe harbour for them,” she says.
“We just need to make sure we’re empowering people to call people out on things in that moment.”
This program is most beneficial helping women returning to work after parental leave. “It’s a really tough time for people to navigate, often that’s where you’re most vulnerable,” she continues.
Sarah found early in her career that it was very important to have this close, supportive network with female colleagues.
“If you don’t have that network and support then the tough times are really tough and people go, ‘I just don’t want to do this anymore’ and leave,” she explains.
Snippets from Sarah Withell's interview
Snippets from Sarah Withell's interview
MATERNITY AND PARENTAL LEAVE
Each of these four women discussed the challenges and successes of being a working mother. It’s clear that the work environment has come a long way to support mothers, but ongoing change is needed.
“Support networks of good schools, good day care, accessible at the right hours, that actually help people to perform their jobs is going to be really important,” Sarah says.
At an institutional level parental leave for men needs to be not only accessible but also encouraged. Sarah says she could not have kept up with the fast-paced nature of her role without the support of parental leave.
“I think it's really important because the more men that take parental leave, they're actually supporting their partners' careers. I know I wouldn't have been able to do the role I've done without my partner taking on that accountability,” she says.
Bella describes a shift in the attitudes surrounding parental leave between 2015 when she had her first child and 2020 when she had her third.
“He [Bella’s husband] never took it with our first two because of the stigma around it, but then with our third, his boss said ‘you’ve gotta take this parental leave because you’ll never get this time again with your children’ so my husband actually took the 16 weeks with our third,” she says.
Parental leave and flexible work arrangements have helped Bella to work and raise her children. “I think definitely having policies like the protections for women and the benefits for women, encourages women in mining, like the parental leave policy is one of the best policies.”
Although it's clear that further support for women is needed to achieve equality in the workforce, measures such as parental leave and flexible work environments are indicators of a positive wave of change. They have been incredibly beneficial reforms to support mothers and keep them working in fast-paced and competitive industries.
If you're experiencing problems such as bullying, sexual harassment or discrimination in the workplace follow this link to the Australian Government's Fair Work Ombudsman for more information and take action.
If this article triggers anything for you please call lifeline on 13 11 14 or SMS 0477 131 114 for mental health support.
