PROFILE
says Dischinger .
IWiM has over 9500 followers in over 100 countries . Around 50 percent of members belong to their local WIM chapter with the other 50 percent being women who have no WIM affiliation .
“ Our mission is to make a difference by helping women working in the sector , celebrate them , develop their careers and drive change in the industry ,” she says . One of the aims of IWiM is to share success stories and upskill our members so that they are more able to cope and advance in their careers ,” says Reed .
“ The idea has developed further into looking at what we can do to be more proactive as an organisation , not simply a place of information but also being a real driver of change .”
Gender imbalance is not necessarily unique to the mining industry . Most if not all STEM sectors across the world suffer from evident gender imbalance . In 2017 , the world has come a long way but there is still room for progression , particularly when it comes to different geographical locations and unconscious bias . “ Even
if the barriers may now have been legally removed in most countries , there is still a lot of unconscious bias and cultural beliefs and expectations that make the reality of working in mining very different from what it should really look like ,” says Dischinger .
Camila Reed , Head of Social Media IWiM , believes that things have begun to improve in the industry , but a key issue is a lack of research into women ’ s roles across the industry , something that IWiM is seeking to rectify .
“ There is a real lack of statistics out there which makes it difficult to get a proper handle as to how many women
8 January 2017