It’s hard to see any common ground between geology and communication, yet these two fields do share something – they both feature prominently in the career backgrounds of women now atop the corporate tree in Western Australian listed companies.
It’s hard to see any common ground between geology and communication, yet these two fields do share something – they both feature prominently in the career backgrounds of women now atop the corporate tree in Western Australian listed companies.
Examples of geologists at the top of management are Maureen Muggeridge, managing director of Paramount Mining Corporation Ltd, Kate Hobbs, managing director of Uran Ltd, and Nanette Anderson, who runs Jaguar Minerals Ltd.
On the communications side there is Bronwyn Barnes, managing director of Graynic Metals Ltd, Jessie Inman, managing director of Cool Energy Ltd, and Libby Lyons, chair of Reclaim Industries Ltd.
Admittedly, this is a very small sample, but with the state’s 700 or so listed companies offering little more than a handful of female chief executives and board chairs, it represents a significant proportion of this group.
For the outsider looking in on this rare collection, the distinction seems to have a simple explanation.
Geology, a technical field, is a common route to the top in the small mining companies that dominate WA’s public companies. While experienced female geologists are rare, they provide a small but technically proficient pool to draw upon.
Across the divide, communications – be it marketing, external affairs, public relations and similar roles – has long been considered a so-called soft field, which has attracted high female participation. Until recently it has been largely overlooked at the corporate level, but new thinking and market changes are bringing these skills to the top echelons of management, and drawing on a large pool of women to do so.
Many of those who have reached this pinnacle agree with this analysis in its simplest form, though most realise its more complex than that.
“When there have not been many women working long-term in the industry in technical roles, it is not surprising that there are not so many women on boards,” Uran’s Kate Hobbs said.
Ms Hobbs expects that to change as the pool of women in this field widens, with significant growth apparent since she got started.
“As they mature and gain seniority, I think you will see more women get through,” Ms Hobbs said.
Paramount chief Maureen Muggeridge predicts that is about a decade away.
“We are seeing the trend, particularly in these hard working roles,” she said.
Many women executives on the mining side point to evidence of advancement of women in the sector. Haulpak driving is an example, with many mine sites long preferring female drivers on their big trucks. More women on site ultimately increases the chances of management roles being achieved.
In the corporate area, there is a long way to go before females in leadership positions overwhelm the men.
Ms Hobbs is one of this rare breed, having been at the top of management for some time as a co-founder of Focus Minerals Ltd, the managing director of Hindmarsh Resources Ltd and, during the past 18 months, behind Uran, an eastern European focused uranium explorer.
Not only has she explored for minerals, she’s done the rounds raising capital.
“I don’t find this industry at all hostile to what I am doing,” Ms Hobbs said.
“I feel everyone gives me the opportunity to make a fool of myself, just as they would any male.”
Joanne Farrell, who oversees human resources as part of a global role at Rio Tinto Iron Ore, believes that geology has a softer edge than most technical fields because it embraces almost all the scientific disciplines and requires a broad understanding of all of them.
Ms Farrell also said it attracted a rare breed, notably those with persistence and perseverance, who had to be eternal optimists.
She said that, in her experience, geology had always attracted women for these reasons but the lifestyle, particularly in exploration in remote regions, often curtailed career development.
Communications, perhaps, is very much perceived as the opposite to this. Waves of young women sign up for courses and careers each year in marketing and PR.
Q&A Communications principal consultant Danicia Dutry, a past WA Business News 40under40 Award winner, said while there was nothing glamorous about doing community consultation in Roebourne in the heat, those involved were given an insight into organisational strategy not available in other career tracks.
“It allows you a much greater exposure to the whole business organisation, often from the entry point of your career,” she said.
Of the current generation of women in leadership positions, those on the communications side often found their way into these fields more by accident than design, from there reaching the top as the area became more recognised by management and boards as important.
These days, few companies are unaware of the issue of branding. Primarily something that concerned retail, consumer-focused companies of the past, the need to communicate with shareholders, employees, government and community groups has been more recently recognised by most of the corporate sector.
Valerie Davies, one of Perth’s most experienced board members – including the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Tourism Australia, Iluka Resources Ltd and HBF – believes communications skills have become increasingly attractive at all levels of an organisation.
“The CEO has to be able to understand their whole business and the whole market,” Ms Davies said.
As one who intersects the marketing and mining sectors, Graynic Metals’ Bronwyn Barnes said it was clear from the interview with the board before she won the managing director’s job that they wanted more than technical skills.
“It is no longer considered the softs,” she said regarding her external affairs and community consultation background.
“It was hand holding, I think mining has moved out of that,” Ms Barnes said.
“People want to do it, that’s the feeling I have got.”
“You want to see the projects you are doing have a positive impact in a number of areas, not just return to shareholders.”
