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Johannesburg - More women are needed in top positions in the
mining industry, Minerals Minister Susan Shabangu said on Saturday.
"Women's place is and should not be in the kitchen,
that is, (the) soft jobs of these mining companies," she said in a speech
prepared for delivery.
"We wish to see women occupying meaningful and even
strategic jobs in the mining industry, including those at the senior level
including at board level."
Shabangu was speaking at the annual Women in Mining
conference at the University of Witwaterand in Johannesburg.
She said she was pleased with the marginal improvement in
the position of women since the introduction of the Mining
Charter in 2002.
The charter required mining companies to ensure that 10% of
their total workforce needed to be women by 2009.
"Even though mining companies have just fallen short of the 10% target... I am also still very concerned.
"The mining industry by its very nature and for
historical reasons still reflects an ethos that is a reflection of the male
dominance of this sector," Shabangu said.
"The role and place of women in mining is not a mere
luxury, or irrelevancy....It is something that must happen, and be made to
happen, without delay. It is part of righting the wrongs of history."
She said the government was committed to the advancement of
black and gender empowerment as well the reversal of oppression and
exploitation in the mining sector.
"The Freedom Charter made bold the statement that
strategic areas such as the banks and the minerals beneath our soil should
belong to the people as a whole.
"It is up to us, today, to decide the means to achieve
this," Shabangu said.
