The Role of Women in Diamond Mining
From mine to market, women play an integral role in the journey of a diamond. This article is part of a series around International Women’s Day that profiles women working in each stage of a diamond’s journey and the impact it has on their lives.
Each year, March marks a time to celebrate the accomplishments of women around the world and reflect on the needed progress towards true gender equality.
This year, International Women’s Day reminds us how important it is to keep moving the equality needle forward. Due to active work and dedication to improvement everyday, women play vital roles in all aspects of the diamond industry: from scientists to engineers; and from haul truck drivers to electricians; from superintendants to CEOs — to name just a small sliver of the jobs women hold in our business.
It is particularly important to focus on progressing gender parity in parts of the world where the industry plays a significant role in the economy. Women in these areas typically do not have their own source of income because there are few careers open to them. The diamond industry provides an excellent opportunity for women to find a stable and positive career.
When I arrived in the area in central India known as Bundelkhand to manage a new diamond project for Rio Tinto nine years ago, I found a local community where jobs were expected to be filled exclusively by men. Many of the women in the community had never even considered how they could contribute to their families beyond the traditional duties of cooking, cleaning and sewing. My team and I immediately recognized that if we wanted to be a part of a flourishing and successful economy, then we had to challenge those norms, and help make the community more stable and viable by getting women into the workforce.
We started by organizing a workshop for women in the community. We challenged the local women who attended the workshop and we encouraged them to break from the past and to imagine new careers for themselves. But also, we listened and learned a lot.
Many of the women told us that not only had they never considered working in a mine or driving one of our trucks, they had never even sat behind the wheel of any motorized vehicle. In response, Rio Tinto launched a four-month program that trained local women to drive trucks and work in our project team. Soon, they were working in jobs that were never available to them before, and they were working right alongside the men.
More than a beautiful and rare gem, diamonds have in recent years come to mean so much to so many people. In countries such as India where diamonds are mined, the industry is creating economic opportunity where there once was very little. These small precious stones are empowering women in a large way, and enabling them to support their families as they never could before.
Indeed, the diamond mining industry has recently become a leader in developing and celebrating women in the workforce. For example, one major diamond-mining producer, Petra Diamonds, has created several programs that help women in a myriad of ways — from providing forums for them to share their experiences and identify challenges in the workplace, to fostering awareness and information on the health and hygiene of women working in mines. Another major diamond producer, the South African company, De Beers Consolidated Mines, recently provided more than $5 million to help create 2,000 Cape Town-based jobs, 43% of which went to women.
In South Africa, there has been strong growth in the number of women working in mining. In 2015, women held 53,000 mining jobs, a more than three-fold increase on the 2002 figure of 11,400. This means that more than 10% of people employed in mining activities in South Africa are now women. The figure for the diamond industry as a whole is much higher. According to the Diamond Producers Association, close to a third of the workforce of the world’s largest diamond producers are female, and a third of the labor workers at major mines are women.
Even with such progress, there is still work to do to move women into more management and senior roles at mining companies. At Petra, a Leadership Development Program now focuses on preparing women for management positions. Throughout the industry, internships and scholarships are increasingly aimed at women.
I am especially encouraged to see success stories on the rise, as I have personally witnessed the well-earned ascension of women who are nationals of diamond mining regions. Take, for example, Ellah Muchemwa. a Zimbabwean, she started on the front lines of the industry, moved up to senior management positions, and was, in 2017, the managing director of Murowa Diamonds and the executive director of the RioZim Foundation, the corporate citizenship unit of RioZim, a public mining company listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Another example is Ranjita Singh, who joined India’s Bunder Project in 2011 as an HR professional, and quickly applied her skills to become a site manager in 2012. There are a lot more of these stories, and the number is growing each day thanks to many of the initiatives that the diamond industry has launched.
In Tanzania, diamond mining companies have worked alongside former Miss Universe Tanzania, Flaviana Matata, to launch programs that teach the local community about education. This is vital in a country where girls traditionally leave school and marry at a very young age, thus limiting their opportunities for good jobs and better lives.
Anyone who wears a diamond should feel good about it. Long gone are the days of poor working conditions and undesirable jobs. The industry is not perfect; however, with the many ways that diamond mining is now positively impacting millions of people — especially women and children — any person who purchases a diamond can enjoy its rare beauty, feel confident and be proud.
Click here to read more articles from the International Women’s Day series.
