BHP Aims for a 50% Female Workforce
October 20 2016 - 1:54PM
Dow Jones News
By Scott Patterson
LONDON -- BHP Billiton Ltd. said Thursday that women will
account for half of its workforce by 2025, a target that would mark
a dramatic restructuring of the sprawling mining company in a
historically male-dominated industry.
In an industry long associated with dust-covered men digging
deep underground, cultivating a more diverse workforce "is key to
our future success," BHP Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie said at
the Anglo-Australian miner's annual general meeting here.
BHP's workforce now is just 17% women. And without the new
initiative, it would take BHP 30 years just to get to a 30% female
workforce, Mr. Mackenzie said. The company has about 65,000
employees and contractors around the world, its annual report
says.
Mr. Mackenzie said that while the goal is "aspirational," it is
"ambitious and challenging and will deliver a major step for our
organization."
At the board level, female leadership at miners is a rarity.
Women accounted for just 9% of board membership at the top 30
mining and metals companies by market capitalization, according to
an Ernst & Young report released Monday. "Women are a key
component of the economy and an untapped resource in the mining
sector," said Miguel Zweig, leader of Ernst & Young's global
mining and metals sector. BHP currently has three women on its
12-member board.
At the executive level, women are also a rarity in the mining
industry. Cynthia Carroll, who broke through the male-dominated
mining ranks to lead Anglo-American PLC, stepped down in 2012 after
failing to meet pressure from investors to rein in costs and reduce
dependence on South Africa, where it owns big iron-ore, coal and
platinum businesses. She was replaced by Mark Cutifani.
Write to Scott Patterson at scott.patterson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 20, 2016 13:39 ET (17:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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