Carl Bosman, Principal at Pedersen & Partners, participated in the Women in Mining South Africa (WiMSA) June event, where he presented data analysis on women executives in mining and the challenges of recruiting female executives into the sector.
In his discussion of the expertise and skills shortages in the minerals sector, he highlighted that out of the 100 top mining companies analysed by Women in Mining UK and PwC, nine are from South Africa, and eight of these companies have women on their boards. These eight companies are deemed to be doing relatively well as their female representation quotas range from 7.69% to 38.46%, where 30% women is the critical mass for female representation in executive management. There are some positive signs in that several South African companies have reached the 30% critical mass, but many of the 9 companies are lagging behind the Top 100 average of 11.1% female executive representation. To a certain degree, this can be explained by a shortage of women with the appropriate education and skills.
These findings are supported by data from the major educational institutions in Johannesburg. In 2014, the undergraduate and post-graduate female headcount was relatively static, with around 200 and 85 new students respectively at the University of the Witwatersrand. Female graduate levels are increasing at all levels, but not sufficiently to reach and maintain the 30% levels required. At the University of Johannesburg, female national diploma headcount is declining, which is bad news as this diploma is a prerequisite for entering the Bachelor of Technology course. Moreover, Bachelor of Technology headcount is declining as well. “As South Africa is an emerging market, it is disconcerting to note that during 2012-2014, male postgraduate levels were in steep decline and undergraduate levels were dropping too. General enrolment at the University of the Witwatersrand seems to be dropping as well. This trend can be seen across the disciplines where female executives are represented more widely (HR, Finance, Law and Sciences). However, in engineering, we are seeing an increase in female enrolment while male enrolment is static,” Carl Bosman said.
“Attracting more women into the mining and mineral resources sector has its challenges, but as an Executive Search firm, we are in a position to offer some strategic input to find solutions. Through our activity and workshops in the area, we will continue to provide new opportunities for more ambitious women to understand and gain access to the mining sector, in order to work towards becoming talented mining executives,” he added.
– Carl Bosman is a Principal at Pedersen & Partners, based in South Africa and Global Head for Mining, Minerals & Natural Resources. Mr. Bosman has more than 15 years of management experience in recruitment services and Executive Search related to sourcing executive, managerial and technical skills into the Mining, Minerals and Resources sectors in Africa, Central Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Mr. Bosman has extensive executive search experience in the global mining sector, covering metals, diamonds and coal, and working on projects in +50 countries. Before his involvement in Executive Search, Mr. Bosman spent two decades developing a management career in Mining, Mineral Resources, Process and Construction, working in Europe, Canada and Africa, mainly focused on cross border and international assignments. He has specialist knowledge of Africa and Asia. Mr. Bosman is a Civil Engineering Technician and read for an undergraduate degree in Business and a B.A. (Hons) in Business Administration from the University of Brighton, UK.
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