WHILE resources industry events tend to be male-dominated affairs, the tables were turned at the inaugural Women in Resources Awards this week.
Chamber of Minerals and Energy’s president Kim Horne, who presented the awards, said WA’s resource sector needed the best minds, “and 50 per cent of those minds happen to be female”.
Rio Tinto’s Kellie Parker won the outstanding woman award for her work as the company’s Cape Lambert and Tom Price rail operations manager.
Ms Parker and her husband, who she says is her biggest supporter, challenge traditional stereotypes; she is the bread winner for the family while her husband looks after their two young children.
Also honoured was consulting firm Momentum Partners mining manager Sabina Shugg, who was named women in resources champion.
Ms Shugg established the Women in Mining Resources Network in WA, which provides support strategies and general education to its all-female membership base of 1,050 resource industry workers.
She sourced sponsorships for the network, which allowed the membership to remain free.
“It is people like Sabina who lead by example and encourage WA women to either take this as their career path or give encouragement to women currently in the mining and energy sectors,” Chamber of Minerals and Energy chief executive Reg Howard-Smith said in presenting the award.
Woodside won the company innovation initiative award for its Flexible Work and Support Initiative, while Nova Energy director Erica Smyth received an outstanding lifetime achievement in resources award.
