The ASIA Miner - Reporting Important Issues to Mining Companies in the Asia Pacific Region
Issue link: https://asiaminer.epubxp.com/i/632337
12 | ASIA Miner | Volume 13 • Issue 1 | 2016 The proportion of women in mining, engi- neering and other technical industries is an important topic across the globe. Slow but steady progress is being made to address the gender imbalance with companies like Royal HaskoningDHV, an international en- gineering and project management consul- tancy, playing an important part in creating a more balanced workforce. This is evidenced by the company's South East Asian opera- tions headed up by Berte Simons. The Royal HaskoningDHV Indonesia pres- ident and Business Unit director of Mining and Heavy Industry is an engineer with a maritime background, having started her career in the Dutch Merchant Navy. Along- side having a young family, Berte Simons is based in Indonesia and is closely involved with the company's projects in the region. She led a project with one of Indonesia's largest coal producers, ABN Group, in which Royal HaskoningDHV supported ABN's PT Media Djaya Bersams to expand its coal processing plant in Northern Suma- tra, covering feasibility and funding to proj- ect management and onsite construction management support. The ASIA Miner's editor John Miller spoke to Berte Simons about the gender imbalance issue as well as her company's progress in Indonesia. THE most effective and productive way for companies to communicate effectively with all stakeholders in the current glob- al climate is to become more diverse and more balanced in terms of gender, nation- ality and age, according to Royal Haskon- ingDHV Indonesia president and Business Unit director of Mining and Heavy Industry Berte Simons. This process is not just about gender or nationality issues, she says, it is about bringing in something different. While acknowledging that the gender bal- ance in mining and industry in South East Asia is no better than elsewhere with senior positions mostly held by men, Berte Simons says it is important to have diversity at all levels. "The global fnancial crisis, declining com- modity prices and changing market dynam- ics means that we are never again going to see the pre-2008 boom times in mining. The downturn has brought the era of the traditional white male, old boys network to a close and has signifcantly altered the de- cision making process. The environment in which mining companies and mining suppli- ers operate in is now global, more diverse and a lot more challenging, and progress cannot be made by simply doing things the old way," she says. Many mining companies have diversity in terms of national backgrounds because it is a global business but Berte Simons says this is not so much the case for women. "In general women have a few different drivers that lead to decision making which is why it is important to have balance and diversity. "Women are more confdent in talking about the things nobody else likes to ad- dress and tend to do this more objective- ly. They have a little more distance and are generally more able to say 'is there some- thing else we need to talk about' or 'I can see this is happening', and are able to ob- serve if there are people not speaking up. It's about making the right decisions at the right time." In South East Asia women are more like- ly to be employed at management level in family-owned businesses or fnancial posi- tions. By contrast, in developed countries women also tend to serve in project man- agement or senior technical roles as well. "The imbalance is similar across the age span, except for the 55-plus age group Need for balanced mining industry employment Royal HaskoningDHV Indonesia president and Business Unit director of Mining and Heavy In- dustry Berte Simons. Berte Simons with some of the Royal HaskoningDHV Indonesia team members on site.