The physical ability of women in mining: Can they show muscle?

Abstract

For many years, mining has been considered the foundation of the South African economy. Although the mining industry in South Africa is currently under considerable pressure and experiences various challenges, including escalating operational costs, electricity tariff increases, safety-related issues and associated production stoppages, poor productivity, labour unrest, and reduced demand both globally and domestically, it remains a key contributor to the national economy and development of the country (IDC, 2013, p. 9). Until 1994, women were legislatively prohibited from meaningful participation in the mining industry and were denied access to skills and jobs, self-employment, and entrepreneurship. The newly elected democratic government in 1994 initiated substantial socio-political and economic transformation in South Africa. Nearly every sector in the country was transformed and re-shaped, primarily through sector-specific legislation, but also through negotiations between government, industry, and labour unions to create and refine the so-called sector charters, which included the Mining Charter. The vision of the new regime, the African National Congress (ANC), was to ‘transfer power to the people and transform society into a non-racial, non-sexist, united, democratic one, and change the manner in which wealth is shared, in order to benefit all the people’ (ANC, 2007). Transformation in the South African mining industry is governed by the provisions of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, No. 28 of 2002 (RSA, 2002), which was promulgated and implemented on 1 May 2004, and the Broadbased Socio-economic Empowerment Charter for the South African Mining Industry (RSA, 2004) (hereinafter referred to as the Mining Charter), which was signed in October 2002 and formally published on 13 August 2004. The broad objectives of the Act and the accompanying Mining Charter (and the amended Charter) are to rectify previous inequalities and disadvantages in the mining sector and to ensure equity, accessibility, and sustainability in the industry. The Act and the Charter make specific provisions for the inclusion of women in core mining activities, in terms of which the industry was supposed to reach a quota of 10% women in core mining activities by 2009. Core mining activities include, among other activities, mining, metallurgy, engineering, and geology (Harmony Gold Mining Company, 2008, p. 32). In 2009, the Department of Mineral Resources conducted a thorough impact assessment to determine the progress made The physical ability of women in mining: can they show muscle?