BHP Billiton has set a new goal for women to make up half of its workforce by 2025 in one of the most ambitious gender targets at a global company.
The Anglo-Australian miner said raising the proportion of women among its 65,000 employees was “the right thing to do” and would improve performance. Women make up about 17 per cent of BHP staff.
BHP will announce the policy at its annual shareholder meeting in London on Thursday. It said the target for gender balance within nine years was “an aspirational goal”, acknowledging that it will have to make significant changes.
However, Andrew Mackenzie, BHP’s chief executive, said the announcement of the parity target “makes us more accountable; it underpins the depth of our commitment and it lets the world know we are serious.”
Mining remains one of the industries where women are least represented. A 2015 survey of 500 mining companies found that women made up less than 8 per cent of boardroom appointments and less than 12 per cent of executives.
“It will take until 2035 for women in executive management in the top 100 listed mining companies to reach … 30 per cent,” the report from Women in Mining (UK) predicted.
BHP’s policy shift comes as other sectors are also stepping up efforts to recruit and retain more women. This month 60 UK financial services companies pledged to have at least 30 per cent of senior roles filled by women by 2021, with 13 aiming for gender parity.
Mr Mackenzie said he was determined to push the miner as quickly as possible towards gender balance, citing an “undeniable” business case for more inclusive and diverse operations.
The company said that what it called its “top 10 most inclusive operations” performed 15 per cent better than the group average.
BHP this year included goals for more female employment in its performance indicators and bonus structure for executives. Senior leaders have to show they have contributed to a 3 per cent increase year by year in female representation across the miner.
The company, which has three women on its 11-strong executive committee, said it was bringing more women into its workforce at junior level, with 49 per cent of graduate trainees now female. But the new policy suggests the company would also move to have 50 per cent of women at board and executive committee level.
In a letter to staff ahead of the shareholder meeting, Mr Mackenzie said the equality target was a “huge leap” and acknowledged “hesitation in parts of the business”.
“I’ve heard the concerns: some employees think inclusion and diversity is not an area where we can make significant progress; some think women don’t want to work in the mining industry, and some male employees have concerns they may be discriminated against, or that they may be overlooked for a promotion,” Mr Mackenzie told staff.
“We will not disadvantage anyone. Instead we will give everyone — men and women — an equal opportunity. No one’s job is under threat because they are male. But we will work to remove the unconscious bias that, in my view, women have been disadvantaged for a very long time in a male-dominated environment.”
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