Women and the Mine of the Future: A Gendered Analysis of Employment and Skills in the Large-Scale Mining Sector: Mongolia

This report provides a gendered analysis of employment and skills within Mongolia's large-scale mining sector, examining legal frameworks, workforce demographics, and educational pipelines. It identifies a persistent gender gap in technical roles and decision-making, despite the existence of gender-responsive policies and a new Labor Code that introduces more flexible roster schedules to encourage female participation.

• The mining sector in Mongolia has seen a decline in the proportion of women workers over the last decade, falling from 22.6 percent in 2010 to 15.6 percent in 2020.
• Women in the mining sector are more vulnerable to layoffs during economic downturns than men. In 2014, during a mining downturn, the employment rate for women decreased by 36 percent, while the rate for men decreased by 13.6 percent.
• A significant gender imbalance exists in mining occupations; 95.2 percent of Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers are men, while women are more concentrated in service, sales, and administrative roles.
• Women in the mining workforce generally have higher educational attainment than men, with 42 percent of women holding a degree in higher education.
• The 2021 revised Labor Code introduced a 14-day on/14-day off (14/14) roster schedule to improve work-life balance and increase female participation in the male-dominated sector.
• There is a marked lack of gender balance at the executive and managerial levels of state agencies in the mining sector. For example, at the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry, only 4 out of 20 managerial-level employees are women.
• While the Social Insurance General Office (SIGO) reported that women in the mining sector earned more on average (MNT 2,949,700) than men (MNT 2,855,800) in 2020, NSO data suggests women are paid less than men in almost all professional categories except for technicians.
• Traditional gender stereotypes continue to influence career choices and recruitment, with a perception that engineering roles should be filled by men and that women's family responsibilities make them less suitable for mining work.
• The German-Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology (GMIT) has successfully increased female enrollment in engineering and technical programs, reaching 41.1 percent of its student body in the 2021-2022 academic year.
• Mining companies generally lack gender-specific training and retraining programs, particularly for women returning to work after maternity leave.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (n.d.). Women and the Mine of the Future: A Gendered Analysis of Employment and Skills in the Large-Scale Mining Sector: Mongolia. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-04/women-mine-of-the-future-mongolia.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Women and the Mine of the Future: A Gendered Analysis of Employment and Skills in the Large-Scale Mining Sector: Mongolia. n.d. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-04/women-mine-of-the-future-mongolia.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Women and the Mine of the Future: A Gendered Analysis of Employment and Skills in the Large-Scale Mining Sector: Mongolia |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-04/women-mine-of-the-future-mongolia.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopmentndwomen, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Women and the Mine of the Future: A Gendered Analysis of Employment and Skills in the Large-Scale Mining Sector: Mongolia}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-04/women-mine-of-the-future-mongolia.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }