The miner has more than tripled its female workforce over a nine-year campaign for balance. But does the outcome justify the collateral damage along the way?
In 2016, BHP set a target to achieve “gender balance”, which meant 40 per cent women by 2025, a hugely ambitious goal in the male-dominated mining industry. Illustration: Bethany Rae
When BHP executive Harold “Skip” York rang to check on the welfare of his friend and direct report Burak Powers, he didn’t know the call was being recorded.
It was October 2019, and Powers was convinced BHP’s plan to achieve workplace “gender balance” by 2025 was undermining his attempts to win redeployment to new roles within the mining giant.
Fetching latest articles
Original URL: https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/the-warts-and-all-story-of-how-bhp-almost-got-to-gender-balance-20250219-p5ldkp
