Understanding organisational barriers to women's advancement into senior leadership in the South African mining industry

Abstract

Despite legislative initiatives to promote gender diversity, women remain grossly under-represented in the top leadership of the South African mining industry. Organizational, cultural, and policy factors that serve as barriers to women's advancement into senior roles are described in this paper. Data was collected through an exploratory qualitative study design among male senior executives, human resource professionals, and female leaders in the mining industry. Results indicated that the systemic barriers that hinder the advancement of women, include the lack of inclusion in leadership networks, unconscious bias in talent development, and inflexible workplace cultures. Such barriers are increased by cultural norms and societal expectations and lagging compliance-driven gender policies in making meaningful changes at the organizational level. The report highlights the persistence of gendered leadership stereotypes and how inadequate the industry's present efforts are. This paper proposes targeted interventions that imply structured mentoring programmes, explicit requirements for promotion, and more robust accountability to resolve these aspects in mining organizations. Understanding the barriers to leadership advancement will enable mining houses to develop more sustainable talent pipeline of female leaders withing the industry.