As part of her participation in the conference entitled Mining of the Future: Diversity makes us more competitive, as part of the Road to proEXPLO 2023 (Rumbo a proEXPLO 2023) webinar, Verónica Valderrama, VP of Human Resources at Gold Fields, stated that the company is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in the mining sector.

"At Gold Fields, we are committed to a culture of diversity and inclusion, where all our people thrive, contribute their ideas and skills to the success of the business and achieve a meaningful sense of well-being and purpose at work."

According to official data, only 6.8% of women have managed to work in the national industry. Of this total, 12.6% hold administrative positions, 12.1% hold management positions, 5.1% are in the operations area and only 3.3% remain in the plant.

As for Gold Fields, at the end of 2022, women reached a participation of 25.4 %, which shows an evolution compared to the pre-pandemic figures, which showed an involvement of 21.6 %. This has placed the organization in the top positions in Latin America.

Valderrama also highlighted that in 2017, women made up only 13 % of the work team, which shows that, after five years, the number of women engaged in the mining activity has doubled.

Women participation

"In order to continue incorporating them into the industry, we must first learn about the situation of women in the community and their needs, as well as the gender perspective in procedures and policies, including community relations and social development plans," she said.

In addition, she stressed the importance of developing strategies to raise awareness internally and externally about the risks for women to ensure that ongoing decision-making and other activities incorporate a gender perspective, implement projects to strengthen their capacities, empowerment and opportunities for access to resources, and encourage participation in decision-making, in the management of community resources, and in spaces for dialogue and negotiation.

Private initiatives include CETEMIN "Talento Mujer Minera", WAAIME, WIM and Mujeres Roca, and public initiatives such as MINEM: Comité de Igualdad. Project with IDB: "Mujeres Líderes y estudios de brechas" (Women Leaders and Gap Studies Program) and "Mujeres Mágicas" (Magical Women) project.

"There are increasing opportunities for women to participate more actively in roles such as dump truck operation, community relations, environmental management, communications, among others," she added.

Gold Fields Case

At an external level, Gold Fields has been developing mentoring with strategic partners such as WIM Peru and WAAIME, empowerment conferences to encourage more women to study STEM careers, participation in Human Resources, diversity and inclusion committees throughout the country, and the signing of an agreement with the Ministry of Women to extend the benefits of the national plan against violence.

At the internal level, we have established inclusive and diverse policies, inclusive language, flexible schedules and benefits for families, leadership and mentoring programs for women, training in disruptive innovation techniques, unconscious bias workshop and scholarship programs.

Mamá Talento

Gold Fields has been working on the "Mamá talento ¡Pasión que renace!" program, focused on the wives/partners of its workers who are mothers, providing them with the necessary tools to boost their employability.

"This project solves one of the major problems of reintegration into the labor market after becoming a mother, has an impact on the self-esteem of participants and boosts employability, giving them impactful tools to enhance their professional and personal brand, which is aligned with our purpose of leaving a legacy and creating value for the families of our workers," she said.

proEXPLO 2023: Discovering the mining of the future