Eight major industrial and mining companies with a strong presence in Andalusia, Acerinox, Atlantic Copper, Concreto, Timonel, Llave, Sandfire’s Tap, Maquinilla, and Takahata came together to share the best practices implemented in their firms at an event organized at the headquarters of the Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Mines as part of the program of events held during the first week of Women in the Andalusian Industrial and Mining sectors.
The Minister of Industry, Energy, and Mines, Jorge Paradela, opened this meeting highlighting the important role played by large companies in «setting the pace» on issues as crucial as increasing the presence of women in the industrial and mining sectors. «Frontline companies have a great power in setting new standards for the government, in the field of environmental and social issues, and, of course, in equality policies.»
He emphasized the need to share «cases of companies that are 100% involved in increasing the presence of women in the industry and mining,» because, although, although, although «To keep moving forward, much is a journey.» Currently, there is a female presence of 26% in the industrial sector, up from 19% five years ago. «By promoting the role of women and equality policies, leading companies set the path,» Jorge Paradela stated.
In this line, he stressed the need to analyze «how we influence society from early ages and how we reverse the fact that the scientific baccalaureate is the only one without majority female students, that vocational training at a higher level than a technical degree, only has 12% girls and 4% if we talk about the average degree.»
Family photo of the participants in the meeting that concluded the first week of Women in the Industry and Mining of Andalusia.
Throughout the presentation of the different participating companies, Common measures focused on awareness, Communicating to society that the industry and mining sectors are modern today, evolving with the most advanced technologies and where the need for physical strength lasted longer, in an environment where Men and women can work on an equal footing. They also emphasized the importance of conducting internal awareness actions through various training measures, such as flexible reconciliation measures, teleworking, continuous day shifts, and professional development programs, focusing, for example, on «women with equal merits have preferential treatment,» management leadership,» and mentoring programs.
Rosa Ruiz Gómez and Gema Moray, Heads of Sustainability and Fusion sections at Acerinox, respectively shared the company’s goal to achieve 15% women in the workforce by 2030. «Consciousness within the factory is not only important, but it is necessary to go to the source, so that girls consider studying STEM careers or more technical training cycles.» They indicated that they had campaigns to visit high schools to explain the job opportunities that exist and also showcase, so there is a varied female presence in different departments of the factory.
In turn, Rocío Aznar, the Compensation and Benefits Supervisor at Atlantic Copper, emphasized the importance of having «equal opportunities.» In their company, there is a 19% female presence, 45% of the management committee is female, at mid-level controls 33%, and at the operational base is where they face the challenge of women at 10%. To try to improve these figures, they implement different measures to attract female talent, such as 50% of students doing internships are girls or maintaining the success of workers in educational centers to show what an attractive sector it is.
From Concreto, their HR Manager, Rocío López appreciated the fact that they were «the first mining company to approve an equality plan in Spain in 2018, which included 79 measures,» and to which new measures related to the future of the company were added «not only to attract talent but also to find opportunities that allow them to continue progress and be represented at all levels.» Currently, they have 18% women, «a basis for improvement,» and 43% of them work in technical and operational areas.
Representatives of eight major industrial and mining companies, with a strong presence in Andalusia, Acerinox, Atlantic Copper, Cobre Las Cruces, Cox, Keyter, Sandfire Matsa, Moeve, and Takahata.
From Timonel Engineering, Roser Castelló, the group’s director of inclusion and equality, emphasized that only around 28% of women pursue STEM studies. «This, if it is already difficult to incorporate technical work, makes it even more challenging to attract, retain, and promote female talent in companies in the industry and technology sectors.» For this reason, they carry out specific programs aimed at school stages and bring students from 4th ESO and high school to the facilities to learn about plants, technologies, work processes, etc., for three days to «inspire boys and girls in STEM and how engineering can help improve.» They also conduct mentoring programs with universities and other entities, seeking to bring students closer to «role models.»
José María Raya, CEO of Teclista Group, highlighted the importance of changing the culture, because «more than strategy, it is what enters the company’s daily life.» He shared how talent more than two decades ago prevailed in selection processes compared to other gender conditions. –Our female workforce has increased by 126% in the last three years Out of the 800 employees, almost 200 are women; We have reached 25%, and what makes us happiest is that our mid-level controls and management staff, 38% are women.
Nuria Fresh, the HR Director of Sandfire’s Tap, emphasized the need to «give visibility to women in the sector, especially in traditional male positions. We want to show that mining is a woman, as well as emphasize the importance of girls and young people having female references in the sector.» She also specified that direct employment in the company already exceeds 22%, more than the 9.1% in the national mining sector. This is a sign that women want to work in the mining sector.
For José Alfonso Martínez Cueto, HR Director at Maquinilla (formerly Cepsa), he emphasized the need to promote a «cultural transformation of the DNA, so that inclusion, equality, and diversity policies are internalized throughout the company; It goes beyond culture, not just measures,» he stated. He highlighted the «ambition» to increase the presence of women. «We have more engineers than field operators,» an area where efforts are being made.
Laura Molina, Director of Administration and Finance at Takahata, emphasized the Carolina factory, which started in 2019, has 65 workers, of which almost 70% are women at all levels. In their company, equality «Foster a culture where employees know how to be appreciated for their talent and performance.» Through continuous training plans, internal promotion tailored to needs, as well as individualized training recycling, among other measures.