The Gold Industry Group (GIG)’s popular Women in Gold Great Diversity Debate hit the road this year, expanding from its original host city of Perth to both Sydney and Melbourne, with a diverse panel of 12 speakers and hundreds of guests from across the nation joining the #womeningold19 conversation.
Since the GIG’s inaugural event in 2016, the debate has quickly become one of the most influential diversity events on Australia’s mining calendar, this year amplifying the topic three-fold crossing three States.
The annual event dissects and promotes diversity, challenging perceptions and opening new doors in its unique and thought-provoking format.
Previous debates have sparked discussions around gender equity targets and whether the sector needed to stop ‘fixing’ women, directing industry’s focus to enact change and develop integrated strategies, policies and new initiatives.
This year’s debate series again led by GIG Vice Chair and Gold Fields VP Legal and Compliance Kelly Carter, saw speakers tackle the topic ‘a diversity debate that begins and ends with gender is doomed to fail’, with the opposition reining over the proposition at every location.
”We have been delighted by the ongoing success of this event year on year, and in particular the level of engagement and enthusiasm from our members and audiences for the debates held for the first time in Sydney and Melbourne.
“The series provides a fantastic opportunity for the sector to engage with some really challenging topics, and prompts an important ongoing conversation,” said Ms Carter.
PERTH
The first debate of the national tour kicked off in Perth with Saracen Mineral Holdings Managing Director Raleigh Finlayson, donning a Santa hat and grabbing the crowd’s attention with some theatrics and hard-hitting facts. He claimed there was a lot more companies could do, in terms of hiring people of all diversities, not just women.
“The continued focus solely on gender diversity, impedes a broader focus on diversity of thought and inclusion.
"There is more we can do, obviously,” said Mr Finlayson.
West Coast Fever Head Coach Stacey Marinkovich hit back hard for the opposition on the importance of focusing on gender in the overall diversity landscape and how the Gold Industry Group is supporting that focus through its partnership with netball in WA.
“It's important to be reminded of the definition of gender - it applies to both men and women. The question isn’t about gender with the exclusion of everything else, by addressing gender first we address an issue that is faced by all of society.
“At some point in our life we've all be asked to confront the question of gender, and what it means to be a man or a woman. Gender, or the notion of being a man or a woman, is ultimately about one's own identity,” said Ms Marinkovich.
Swaying the audience back towards the proposition, Curtin University student and President of the Women in Mining and Resources Tashana Jones discussed how ‘diversity fatigue’ is impeding the industry’s progress in moving away from false gender presumptions of women in the workplace.
"Maybe, we've created this world where being represented is more important than being included, or even understood? Are we so focused on being understood, that we forget to be understanding?"
She challenged perceptions with her own insights, saying open communication is key to making progress.
“Gender diversity should be the norm, where everyone is on a level playing field, regardless of what pronoun you use,” said Ms Jones.
Newmont Goldcorp Australia Tax Director Matthew Popham brought home the strongly contested debate for the opposition saying the focus on gender is supporting the industry to expand its diversity focus and finished with some wise words.
"The gender debate has enabled an evolution of thinking. The current day is not perfect, but we have made significant gains, and we're well set for the future.
“The leadership barriers to better diversity and inclusion are being removed, as those under 40s assume greater and greater responsibility and assume leadership roles. Workplaces are more inclusive and welcoming than they've ever been before, and I wouldn’t call that a failure,” said Mr Popham.
Read Mining News’ coverage.
SYDNEY
The diversity tour then travelled to Sydney for its inaugural event in Barangaroo, where the second debate saw Evolution Mining Chief Operating Officer Bob Fulker hold the crowd, saying we need to drive beyond diversity to inclusion.
"We all know intuitively that inclusiveness makes rational sense. It also makes business sense. But when we focus on a simplistic single fix, with a zealous single-mindedness, as one solution that will fix the world - we lose touch with the general person's belief.
“Inclusion is not only being included in recruitment, it means being listened to and valued once there," said Mr Fulker.
Symposium Managing Director Kerry Stevenson came in swinging for the opposition.
"The topic suggests that diversity is encouraging minorities - but women are not a minority!
“The question isn’t about gender to the exclusion of everything else, the issue is around sequencing and gender needs to be dealt with first," said Ms Stevenson.
She championed the need to focus on gender diversity, by stating that the complex issue is one of sequencing, and gender needs to be dealt with first before we can broaden our focus to other diversities.
ABC Bullion Managing Director Janie Simpson’s rebuttal proposed the industry needed to take a different approach and focus on diversity as a whole in order for real change to occur.
"Focusing on gender has created a diversity fatigue and backlash. The focus needs to be on belonging and inclusion, rather than on numbers," said Ms Simpson.
Newcrest Mining Cadia Valley Mining Manager Lyndsay Potts closed the evening on the importance of the visibility of gender diversity, and the need to get that right so as to support broader diversity as a whole.
"Diversity in gender isn't just about your gender, it's about everything that being a woman brings to the table. While we still have a long way to go, a quick glance over the shoulder reminds us of how far we've come," said Ms Potts.
MELBOURNE
Arriving for the finale, the national tour’s Melbourne debate opened with Gold Industry Group Director and Gold Road Resources General Manager of Capability and Culture Stuart Jenner asking whether the strong focus on gender is actually detrimental to our efforts towards inclusivity.
“If we really want true diversity, then why aren’t we putting more attention and focus to things beyond gender, such as ethnic cultures, faith, religion, language backgrounds, indigenous, ancestral backgrounds, age, sexual orientation, veterans, special needs, disabilities - including cognitive and neurological disorders.
“If we are really interested in inclusivity, we should go beyond gender dimensions,” said Mr Jenner.
Jumping into the opposing fray, Newcrest Mining Principal of Diversity and Inclusion Giulia Savio urged guests to think broader with her argument for focusing on gender first, for both men and women.
“Let’s do the right thing and achieve gender equity first, and by doing so we will actually achieve so much more in the broader realm of diversity as well,” she said.
Pointing out that workplace flexibility such as maternity leave policies, may have began by addressing women in the workplace, but have brought benefits to all by resulting in work-life balances for more than parental care.
“We are all different and it’s offensive to say otherwise. Gender and the focus on women is just a start, not an exclusion to the other issues of diversity and inclusion,” said Ms Savio.
Kirkland Lake Gold Environment and Community Manager Felicia Binks then addressed diversity fatigue and its backlash by saying the industry has a responsibility to address this, needing to change its approach in order to achieve both diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
“Stop and think: what does diversity mean to you? Do you automatically think its gender - and that’s what I’m going to think about - or do you think about other things?
“In order to move forward, we need to incorporate more than just the numbers and more than just male versus female. We need to use various lenses to look at diversity. There’s a lot of different avenues to diversity and we need to encompass more than we can see,” said Ms Binks.
Heating up the room in her closing arguments, Agora Financial Australia Chief Editor Shae Russell crushed the proposing team’s arguments and brought the debate home hard, asking the audience to think of what they can do from their own experiences.
“Will I ever be tired of pushing for better?
“It’s not just a gender argument - we needed gender to start the conversation. We need to remind employers that people from diverse backgrounds can bring huge benefits to a company.
The problem is that it’s all about entrenched power structures... we need to take gender and expand it onto much bigger topics,” said Ms Russell.
Read Australian Mining’s coverage.
Industry is encouraged to continue the conversation by hosting viewing nights of the debates on site as well as their own debates.
2019 MC’s included: Richard Hayes, Chairman Gold Industry Group and CEO The Perth Mint; Lawrie Conway, Finance Director and Chief Financial Officer, Evolution Mining; and Peta Baldwin, Queensland State Director, Cannings Purple.
The 2019 Women in Gold National Tour was made possible thanks to the support of member gold sponsors Gold Fields, Evolution Mining and Newcrest Mining; and supporting sponsors The Perth Mint, Newmont Goldcorp Australia, ABC Refinery, Saracen Mineral Holdings, Kirkland Lake Gold, Ramelius Resources, Independence Group, Swick Mining Services, AngloGold Ashanti Australia, Regis Resources, Northern Star Resources and Cannings Purple.