SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, February 14: Prof Ratna Ghosh of James McGill and Sir WC Macdonald, Professor of Education at McGill University, Canada, emphasised the need for female recruitment, retention and advancement at all levels in the mining Industry.
Empowering women in mining industry
Prof Ghosh, who was delivering an online lecture on ‘Critical Aspects in Gender Mainstreaming: Empowering Women in the Mining Industry’ in IIT Indian School of Mines (ISM) Dhanbad as part of Shastri Lecture Series, 2023-24, said that the opportunity to work with different types of people and perform for professional growth can attract women in mining Industry.
The lecture series is organised by the IIT Indian School of Mines (ISM) in association with the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute (SICI).
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Prof Rajni Singh, Dean (Corporate Communications) at IIT (ISM), is the coordinator of the lecture series.
Competitive remuneration
Prof Ghosh further said that competitive remuneration is the most important factor in attracting women to the mining industry in many countries.
“The reasons for women leaving the mining industry are the capability of women being questioned continuously and factors like fewer advancement opportunities compared to male colleagues, bias in remunerations,” she pointed out.
She said that to ensure attraction, retention and promotion of women in the mining industry; the mining companies should initiate measures like making basic provisions for women to feel safe, zero-tolerance policy, inclusive behaviour, and ensuring remuneration based on qualification and ability and not on the basis of gender.
Prof Ghosh said that as a society can’t be deprived of half of the world’s brainpower, there is an urgent need to develop radical policies and change pedagogy, ultimately leading to societal change. She also emphasised the need to convert demographic advantage to demographic dividend.
