The Women and the Mine of the Future Global Report

From Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development

By Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)

November 20^th, 2023

In April 2023 the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) published the global report Women and the Mine of the Future. It is based on a series of in-depth country reports, including several countries where EGP is involved.

Rapid technological advances, increasing calls for sustainability, and the low-carbon energy transition are transforming large-scale mining across the globe. The Women and the Mine of the Future project aims at increasing understanding of the status quo for women in mining, so stakeholders can anticipate, assess, and address gendered impacts as mining evolves.

The report includes policy recommendations for governments, companies, and workers to consider as well as what the unfolding transformations will mean for mining occupations. Findings from the in-depth studies include that:

mining is highly masculinised,
women tend to be concentrated in clerical and support roles,
most women are not offered technical training or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) opportunities,
and the pay gap and “leaky pipeline”, women departing the workforce early in their careers, are real.

The project is jointly implemented by the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals, and Sustainable Development, the International Labour Organization, International Women in Mining and the Environmental Governance Programme (EGP) of UNDP and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.