[Updated 21st June 2015]
Check out our refreshed Intl WIM Community Gallery and the sub-set available for download Int WIM Community Stock Imagery Campaign.
If you have an image to contribute to our Gallery, please email media@womeninmining.net
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Do you all remember my previous post “Changing the Way we Look At Women” about how women are perceived when it comes to photo and media? The initiative by Getty & Sheryl Sandberg addresses some of the problems and is a great start but doesn’t necessarily solve our immediate lack (in mining) of pictures of women in action in all professions that come together to work on a mine, exploration project, camp, plant and office.
I am starting a campaign to create our own women in mining stock image databank to redress the lack of stock imagery available depicting women in mining and thereby improve visual representation of the female workforce in the sector. If we don’t familiarise the world with those images then we aren’t creating enough visual role models to young women and girls to encourage them to stay/join the industry.
This campaign has a number of objectives:
- Accurate depiction of women working in the sector (rather than staged pictures of models in sexy poses and heels on a minesite)
- Visual role models for younger generation, and even for families and friends of the women portrayed who don’t get to see them at work
- Show how many of us are out there and our numbers are growing
- Showcase the amazing variety of roles in which women are employed in the industry and yes many of us do work in technical roles
- Help towards culture change in male-dominated industry
Therefore urgent appeal to all of you female mining professionals!!! We especially need to see you in everyday situations, if they include helmets and high viz gear even better.
I encourage all engineers, geologists, metallurgists, process engineers, environmental specialists, social specialists, anthropologists, machine operators, maintenance professionals, electricians, truck drivers, lab rats, HSEC professionals, etc. = EVERYONE to send in their selfies or group photos; if they are professional high-resolution photos even better.
Make sure you indicate your name, company, job title, where picture was taken (town, country, mine). If you are happy for your photo to be used by others let us know. Maybe also check with your companies regarding the use of your photo. I don’t want anyone to get into problems from a legal perspective. I hope mining companies will support us in this!
Make sure you send as much detail as possible, not just the photo. My goal is that the combination of photo and detail will tell a story; the narrative will have the visual support of the photo and thereby become more powerful. The photos are great and allow to show the real women in mining at work but the text brings the photos alive because suddenly this is a real person that has a career in mining, a sector most are passionate about, from junior to very senior. The combination will do more to change the culture, I believe, than the photo alone, if that makes sense.
All photos will be displayed in our photo gallery on the website. Phase II will be when these photos become available for download. Hopefully we will succeed.
I have recently retweeted some images from Anglo American. See my tweet feed at @intWIMCommunity
If you want to tweet about it use hashtag #WIMstockimagery. All enquiries to barbara@womeninmining.net
Link to our press release