I THINK MINING

Where angels fear to tread!  That was my first thought on the idea of a blog posting on the issue of how many new jobs are out there for women in mining.

The idea came from reading a fine series of blog postings on The Republic of Mining on the history of women in mining primarily in the Sudbury area.  Their postings tell  of the beginnings of what is now a relatively uncontentious issue.  By extension, I wondered if job losses are likely to affect women in mining more than job losses are likely to affect men—in short are layoffs going to be equal-gender?   Or maybe just gender-neutral?

I have no way of knowing or establishing the ratio or percentage of women-not-in-mining in 2009 as compared to men-not-in-mining in 2009.  So I did another simpler count. 

I went to CareerMine and counted the number of “hot-jobs.”  Let me emphasize that “hot” has no gender connotations on CareerMine.  I found 40 “Hot New Jobs” listed for the day of the experiment, although when you go, you may find more or fewer depending on when you access the site. 

Then comes the question:  how many of these jobs would a woman apply for?  I tread on dangerous ground in asking that question and even more dangerous ground in answering it.  I set two simple criteria for counting a job as being one a woman may apply for:

1. I have known a woman in such a job.
2. I would recommend the job to my daughters, even though they are civil engineers and not mining engineers–but all things being equal and all the rest—you know what I mean. 

I counted 13 such jobs amongst the 40.  Let me note that none of the jobs call for, or in any way, limit the sex of the applicant.  Most jobs could be done quite competently by many women I have know in the industry and elsewhere over the years.  But still I count 13.  That is my “gender-biased” or “father-instinct-based” or “past encounter-based” count.  If you do not like it, I urge you to do a similar, or more sophisticated, experiment/count yourself and let me know the outcome.

Here are extracts from some of the jobs I have know ladies do, or would recommend to my daughters:

• The Continuous Improvement Coordinator is accountable to the Manager Conduct of Operations for the design, development, and implementation of training and support programs for the complete implementation of Suncor’s ILP and Action Management tools by operation. 
• A leading mining consultancy with coal and metal project throughout Australia and overseas requires an established Geotechnical engineer who will be responsible for providing information and advice on short to medium term geotechnical issues to mine planning and operational personnel.
• The Compliance Coordinator will be responsible for training, audit and support programs for compliance with all applicable environmental regulation. 

And finally after having the two daughters here for tens days, I must recommend that they both deal with their explosive natures by considering the jobs of Drill and Blast Engineer who will: (a) coordinate drill and blast activities; (b) design drill and blast operations; and (c) develop and implement optimal blasting solutions.  OK, I know I will get a blast of protest for that one.  And I probably deserve it.

But all the ragging aside:  looks like woman will have fewer opportunities in mining in 2009 than men in mining.  But that is probably as it has always been. 

The harsh facts of opportunity do not, of course, tell us how the job losses will be parcelled and shared out.  All we can hope is that few if any men and women loose their mining jobs in 2009, and if there are mass layoff they are done gender neutral.