Queensland Resources Council GIRLS mentoring program empowering more women to enter male-dominated industry

Programs designed to attract more women to enter male-dominated industries are proving popular. See how peak resources bodies are getting girls keen on a career in the sector.

Girls determined to upset the status quo in the male-dominated mining industry have received an extra boost as mentoring programs targeted at increasing female participation flourish.

The Queensland Resources Council has once again launched its Girls In Resources Life Skills (GIRLS) mentoring program for 2022.

GIRLS is a highly sought-after program which builds connections between female high school students and industry leaders, encouraging young women to pursue a career in the mining and resources sector.

Young women from around Queensland, including Gladstone’s Sanya Arora (left), are taking part in the QMEA GIRLS Mentoring Program. Picture: Supplied (QRC)

Established in 2019, the program has recorded an increase in applications from female students each year, and hopes to provide support, pathways, and life experience for ambitious students.

Mining is still Australia’s most male-dominant industry, according to the Workforce Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), with 2018 figures revealing women held just 16 per cent of the jobs in the industry nationally.

Gladstone year 12 student and GIRLS mentee, Sanya Arora has ambitions of studying mechatronics engineering and said the program is an incredible opportunity to network and see the newest development and technology.

“I was told about this opportunity to be part of a community of women empowering each other and I thought it was another amazing way to network,” Ms Arora said.

“In the ambassador program we got to do a tour of Hastings Deering and CSIRO that were all to do with technology which I absolutely adored,” she said.

Students are paired with women who work within various specialties in the resources sector over a six-month period. Picture: Supplied (QRC)

The program pairs 20 Year 12 students from some of the 90 QMEA-associated schools across Queensland.

It comes as a key resources employer in Central Queensland has overhauled its paid parental leave scheme to incentive primary and secondary carers to spend more times with their newborns.

QRC director of Skills, Education and Diversity Katrina-Lee Jones said mentees would meet regularly with their female mentors over the next six months.

2018 WGEA figures indicate women are still overwhelmingly under represented in the key mining and resources industries in Australia. Picture: generic

“We want to show young women the types of rewarding and prosperous career opportunities on offer in the minerals and energy industry, particularly the diversity of roles and professions that exist and are becoming more available to women,” Ms Jones said.

“Our GIRLS Mentoring Program helps the next generation build lasting and valuable relationships, providing young girls with their own industry guide who can help answer any questions they might have about their future.”

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane last week said Queensland’s industry sector now had 7000 female employees, an increase of 53 per cent in the past six years.

The mentoring program was established by the QRC’s Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy and partners with the state government under its Gateway to Industry Schools program.