That and there is a real interest in making teams better by boosting the diversity of the people making them up.

In one program, working on remote mining or oil and gas projects will soon have an industry e-mentoring program designed to increase gender diversity across the resources sector.

In another, a major Australian university has entered into a partnership with key resources players to boost the number of women going into the resources sector.

On the e-mentoring front is a program driven by the Australian Women in Resources Alliance.

Comprising representatives from employers and government and industry bodies, AWRA seeks to connect female resource workers with both male and female mentors who can pass on their experience and offer guidance and support.

Australian Mines and Metals Association industry executive director Minna Knight said AMMA had been overwhelmed with expressions of interest from women who wanted direct access to industry leaders.

“The AWRA e-mentoring program will extend the benefits of mentoring to those women who have struggled with face-to-face mentoring due to their remote locations and non-traditional work schedules,” she said.

“The program’s technology will guide them through a structured process supported by an integrated chat tool, video conferencing and various functions so both mentor and mentee get the most out of the relationship.”

AMMA facilitates AWRA with funding from the Australian government’s critical skills investment fund.

The initiative is helping industry meet its skilled demand through a greater attraction and retention of women workers.

Knight said a recently completed national analysis of gender diversity in resource roles showed both industry and government had to step up their efforts.

It is AWRA’s goal to raise the participation of women in the resources sector from 13.4% to 25% by 2020.

“Industry forecasts are that more than 90,000 new jobs will be created on Australia’s major resources and related construction projects by 2015 and women have a very important role to play in the development and operation of these projects,” Knight said.

“If the industry is to meet its true potential, we need to make a deliberate effort to mentor young women so they can go on to deliver an additional $240 billion worth of projects sitting in the national pipeline.

“Complementing the AWRA e-mentoring program will be a targeted education campaign in the form of AWRA Way Forward guides.

“These guides will assist employers to create inclusive cultures, implement flexible work practices, engage with female jobseekers, improve living facilities and create greater career development opportunities for women.”

On the education front, the University of Queensland wants to become Australia’s university of choice for women in engineering and has entered into a major partnership to bring this to pass.

The partnership between the university, Rio Tinto, the Australian Power Institute and the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association aims to address the shortage of female students enrolling in engineering programs at UQ through the creation of a position dedicated to improving this gender imbalance.

Called the Women in Engineering development and communications manager, the role will be focused on recruiting, supporting and recognising women in engineering.

UQ faculty of engineering, architecture and information technology executive dean Professor Graham Schaffer said both the university and the engineering profession would benefit greatly from a more equitable gender balance of qualified engineers.

“Quality is enhanced by diversity,” he said.

Rio Tinto, API and APPEA have each invested $250,000 over five years for the program.

APPEA chief operating officer eastern region Rick Wilkinson said the proportion of degree-qualified female engineers in the Australian labour force last year was just 12.7%.

“That needs to rise,” he said.

“Female engineers are an essential part of any technical team if it is to have the full depth required to compete in today’s globally competitive markets.”

The national average for female students starting engineering courses is 12-14%. UQ is slightly bucking that trend with 19-20% of females in its first year engineering cohort.

“Although UQ is already above the national average for undergraduate female engineering enrolments, we know that we are not world’s best practice and that there is still much to be done,” Schaffer said.

“Our data shows female students, on average, have higher retention rates once they have commenced their engineering degrees in comparison to their male peers.

“The challenge we face as an educational institution is therefore the recruitment of women into engineering programs, not retention.”

Rio Tinto Energy vice president human resources Rosemary Fagen said diversity and inclusion were great attributes to pursue in any organisation.

“Rio Tinto has a global target to increase the number of female professional engineers across the group,” she said.

“We look forward to seeing improvement in the gender balance of qualified engineers as a result of this initiative with UQ.”

This article first appeared in ILN's sister publication MiningNews.net.