Women account for 50.4% of the state’s population but only 13% of the NSW mining workforce.

The Women in Mining Network (WIMIN_NSW) is being launched in Sydney, coinciding with the state’s International Women’s Day celebrations.

Guest speaker and author of The Girl in the Steel-Capped Boots, Loretta Hill, will speak at the WIMIN_NSW gala dinner tonight in front of a mainly female crowd of 100 industry leaders.

As a civil engineer and mother of three, Hill will talk about her career in the minerals industry and urge women to enter roles largely dominated by males.

“In chapter one of my novel the protagonist Lena arrives on a remote Pilbara site and she gets mistaken for a cleaner,” she said.

“If not the cleaner then the secretary or the mail girl – basically any job that was stereotypically a female role."

While she admitted the job was demanding, Hill said women were highly respected in the industry and there were many benefits to a mining career.

The financial rewards are just one of the many benefits from working in the industry.

The average weekly earnings for Australian mining employees are more than $2100, up from the national average of around $1,000.

NSWMC chief executive officer Stephen Galilee said the launch of the network on International Women’s Day was chosen because he wanted to erase the perception that mining is a realm reserved for men.

“We are growing in NSW but we won’t be able to meet global demand for our resources if we only focus our attention on half of the population,” he said.

“That’s why we want more women to take on trades, embrace engineering and environmental science and give geology and geophysics a go, all non-traditional roles for women.”

In addition to the network, the NSWMC is launching a new website to promote events and to better connect women already working in mining.

You can visit the website at www.wiminnsw.com.au.