Les femmes et la mine du futur

The report establishes a baseline for women's employment in large-scale mining across 12 countries, finding that while female participation is slowly increasing, the sector remains heavily masculinized with significant structural barriers. Women are often concentrated in administrative roles and face a 'leaky pipeline' where they leave the industry at earlier career stages than men. The document highlights a paradox where women in mining often have higher formal education levels than men but lack the specific technical and vocational certifications required for high-paying operational roles. It further analyzes how the 'mine of the future'—characterized by automation, digitalization, and decarbonization—could either marginalize women further due to a digital divide and STEM gaps or provide new opportunities in environmental engineering and remote operations. The report concludes with policy recommendations for governments and companies to improve gender-responsive data collection, workplace safety, and inclusive skill-development programs.

• Large-scale mining is a small direct employer nationally, but it is a critical economic driver in many countries. For example, in 2020, mining's contribution to the national economy was highest in Mongolia, Zambia, Chile, Australia, South Africa, and Peru.
• The sector is overwhelmingly dominated by men; global estimates suggest 85% of the 21.4 million workers in the mining industry are men.
• Women's participation in large-scale mining is generally increasing, though the pace is slow. Sweden has the highest proportion of women in the total mining workforce at 25%, while Peru has the lowest at 9%.
• Women in the mining sector often possess higher formal academic qualifications than their male counterparts, yet they lack the specific technical and vocational certifications needed for operational roles.
• There is a 'leaky pipeline' in the industry, where women tend to leave the sector at an earlier stage of their careers than men, often starting to decline in the 35-44 age bracket.
• Gender pay gaps persist across the sector. In Australia, women earn 83% of men's salaries in large-scale mining, and in Ghana, the median wage gap was 27.5% in 2013.
• Workplace environments are often hostile to women due to a lack of gender-appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and basic facilities like separate toilets and changing rooms.
• Women are more vulnerable to job loss during economic downturns. In Mongolia, during the 2020 pandemic, the employment rate for men in mining fell by 7.4%, while women lost 34% of their jobs.
• Technological disruption, including AI and robotics, poses a high risk of displacement for low-to-medium skilled workers, a category that includes many administrative roles predominantly held by women.
• The energy transition is driving an exponential increase in demand for 'critical minerals' such as copper, cobalt, lithium, nickel, manganese, and rare earths, which may create new opportunities for women, particularly in exploration and environmental engineering.
• Mining operations contribute significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions, estimated at 4% to 7% of world emissions, with indirect contributions reaching 28% when coal combustion is included.
• There is a critical lack of consistent, gender-disaggregated data in the mining sector, which hinders the development of evidence-based policies. Most national statistics rely on binary sex categories and exclude non-binary or transgender individuals.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2023). Les femmes et la mine du futur. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-08/women-mine-of-the-future-global-report-fr.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Les femmes et la mine du futur. 2023. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-08/women-mine-of-the-future-global-report-fr.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Les femmes et la mine du futur |date=April 2023 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-08/women-mine-of-the-future-global-report-fr.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2023les, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Les femmes et la mine du futur}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2023}, month = apr, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-08/women-mine-of-the-future-global-report-fr.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }