{"id":2021769,"date":"2023-09-04T22:01:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T02:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hows-gender-equity-working-for-the-big-australian\/"},"modified":"2023-09-04T22:08:43","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T02:08:43","slug":"hows-gender-equity-working-for-the-big-australian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hows-gender-equity-working-for-the-big-australian\/","title":{"rendered":"Is gender equity working well for the &#8216;Big Australian&#8217;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhows-gender-equity-working-for-the-big-australian%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2021769&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><blockquote>\n<h2>Commentary<\/h2>\n<p>Global mining giant BHP\u2019s former CEO Andrew Mackenzie made a huge splash\u2063 when he\u200b addressed \u200bshareholders at the 2016 annual meeting, \u200dtelling them that achieving a 50 percent female \u200cworkforce\u200d within the decade was a \u201cmoral imperative\u201d for the\u200c company.<\/p>\n<p>The media applauded Mr. Mackenzie\u2019s plan \u200bto \u2064replace\u2062 half the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-if-our-ruling-class-has-womens-workforce-participation-and-gdp-all-wrong\/\" title=\"What if our ruling class misunderstands women's workforce participation and GDP?\">male\u2062 workforce<\/a> with women in this most masculine of industries.<\/p>\n<p>By last year, \u200bBHP \u2063had doubled the proportion of female employees\u2014up\u200b from 17 percent in 2016 to over 32\u2063 percent on June 30 last year (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bhp.com\/-\/media\/documents\/investors\/annual-reports\/2022\/220906_bhpannualreport2022.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"border-comp-divider mb-4 mr-4 w-full max-w-[500px] border px-5 py-4 text-[16px] leading-[20px] text-[#262626] md:float-left\">\n<div class=\"mb-3 font-sans text-[16px] font-semibold uppercase leading-[19px] text-[#2F2F2F]\">Related Stories<\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/world\/queensland-threatens-to-cancel-bhps-coal-leases-5478097\">Queensland Threatens to Cancel BHP&#8217;s Coal Leases<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">8\/22\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/world\/queensland-threatens-to-cancel-bhps-coal-leases-5478097\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/opinion\/stop-the-wokification-of-the-pentagon-5454420\">Stop the Wokification of the Pentagon<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">8\/9\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/opinion\/stop-the-wokification-of-the-pentagon-5454420\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>To measure their \u201cprogress\u201d another way, in the 12 months \u2063to June 2022, BHP\u200d shed 1,417 male employees (5 percent\u200d decline) \u200band hired 806 more females (7\u2064 percent \u2063increase).<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-left:0;margin-right:0;max-width:1200px\">\n<figure style=\"width:640px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>Andrew MacKenzie, former\u2063 Chief Executive Officer of BHP Billiton, announces the company interim report at the BHP Business centre in Melbourne, Australia, on Feb. 18, 2014. (Mal Fairclough\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00adBHP is convinced that this blatant discrimination against\u200d men is perfectly legal. However, some lawyers believe that the \u201cspecial \u200cmeasures\u201d provision \u2063in the Sex Discrimination Act \u2063(SDA) that\u200b mining companies rely\u2063 upon for their \u201cpositive discrimination\u201d\u200d is ripe for a challenge.<\/p>\n<p>For a start, the Act does not \u2063permit unlimited discrimination against men to address so-called \u2063discrimination against women. The Australian\u2064 Human Rights Commission guidelines on special\u200c measures under the SDA say they must be \u201cproportionate and properly targeted\u201d\u2014BHP\u2019s very aggressive policy could well be disproportionate.<\/p>\n<p>Article 4 of the Convention on \u2064the Elimination of All \u2063Forms \u2062of Discrimination against Women which underpins the SDA notes that this Article refers to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/irish-police-will-be-given-power-to-demand-passwords-from-suspects\/\" title=\"Irish Police Will Be Given Power To Demand Passwords From Suspects\">special measures<\/a> being acceptable to achieve \u201cthe objectives of equality of <em>opportunity and treatment<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is a key issue. There\u2019s no reference in the Convention to\u2062 \u201cequality of outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This makes \u200bsense because otherwise the Convention would be condoning ongoing and disproportionate discrimination against men, and that would never be the overriding objective\u200d of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-passes-uyghur-forced-labor-prevention-act\/\" title=\"Senate Passes \u2018Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act\u2019\">human rights instrument<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>These instruments are all about providing opportunity for\u200d women and striking a balance\u2014not about permitting\u200d rampant unfairness against men.<\/p>\n<h2>Top-Down Gender\u200d Discrimination<\/h2>\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t it be great \u200bto see a case that tested the limits of these \u201cspecial measures provisions\u201d and the gender equity framework \u2062that they pop up in Australia? It would be \u200ca real chance to strike \u2063a blow against the insidious gender politics taking over this country.<\/p>\n<p>BHP\u2019s campaign has been relentless with the company achieving much of this by advertising women-only positions across the company.<\/p>\n<p>The 50 percent goal is not just \u200bsome pie-in-the-sky aspiration. Oh no, executives\u2019 jobs and bonuses are on the line if they don\u2019t\u2062 manage to push more women in and men out.<\/p>\n<p>There are <a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2023\/07\/how-a-remote-australian-mine-became-a-gender-balanced-workplace\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strict<\/a> quotas on hiring females and it\u200c won\u2019t\u200c matter if you \u200bwere just hiring the best candidates, if you fail to hire enough women you can expect repercussions, starting with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/commentary\/gender-equity-unfair-to-men-insulting-to-women\/news-story\/14a5a031de0ddad8b6bae63968245b3e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">loss of bonus pay<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The discrimination doesn\u2019t stop at hiring\u2014promotion also is more \u200cdriven by gender than merit. \u2062The overall effect is that \u200bwomen are promoted to\u200d management, on average, nine years earlier than men\u2014according to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bdo.com.au\/en-au\/news\/media-releases\/female-mining-managers-get-nine-year-head-start-on-men\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis<\/a> of the mining industry by accounting firm BDO.<\/p>\n<p>BHP is also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.afr.com\/companies\/bhp-wants-more-women-on-frontline-at-south-flank-as-contracts-hit-15-billion-20181025-h173kh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">leaning on <\/a>their suppliers to fall into line with very\u2062 tough\u2062 policies like \u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.altrad.com\/en\/newsreader\/altrad-s-female-trainee-program-at-bhp-sites-australia.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">excluding\u2062 males<\/a> from some job vacancies and\u2064 imposing\u200b diversity demands.<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-left:0;margin-right:0;max-width:1200px\">\n<figure style=\"width:640px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>The company logo adorns \u200cthe side of the BHP gobal\u2062 headquarters in Melbourne, Australia on Feb. 21, 2023. (William West\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Men Speak Out<\/h2>\n<p>There have\u2064 been two cases of BHP being\u2063 sued for sex discrimination by men which have \u2064attracted\u2064 significant publicity.<\/p>\n<p>Burak Powers, a former manager within BHP\u2019s Houston petroleum office, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.afr.com\/work-and-careers\/workplace\/bhp-gender-targets-spark-sex-discrimination-lawsuit-20210610-p57zxz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sued<\/a> the company in a Texas Court,\u200b claiming punitive damages because he was passed\u2063 over for promotion in favour of less qualified and experienced women.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Powers laid \u200cout the \u201csystemic pattern of top-down sex discrimination\u201d that resulted \u200din his position supposedly being abolished, only\u2062 to be \u2062recreated,\u200b minus an open interview\u2063 process, and \u2064offered to a less qualified \u200bfemale worker.<\/p>\n<p>All this despite\u200d his \u2064being invited into BHP\u2019s elite Future Emerging Leaders Program and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hows-gender-equity-working-for-the-big-australian\/\" title=\"Is gender equity working well for the 'Big Australian'?\">receiving \u201cuniformly positive\u201d performance \u2063reviews<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Another man seeking damages against BHP was a former manager\u200c for regional Caribbean, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.afr.com\/companies\/mining\/another-bhp-male-says-gender-targets-skewed-hiring-20220828-p5bddk#:~:text=A%20former%20manager%20at%20BHP,a%20second%20man%20last%20year.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Adrian Purdy<\/a>, who was\u2062 instructed by the company to fill two vacancies \u2062with \u200bfemales.<\/p>\n<p>His affidavit recounts: \u201cI was \u200brepeatedly informed by senior \u2062managers at \u200bBHP that it was of paramount importance to hire, retain, and promote as many females as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Purdy said two women were subsequently\u200b \u201chired from outside the company, over numerous clearly better-qualified males who were \u200dalready employed at\u200d BHP.\u201d He was laid off after raising the matter in BHP\u2019s in-house complaints portal.<\/p>\n<p>BHP \u200dvowed to\u200c fight both cases but ultimately settled with Mr. Powers out of \u2063court (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mondaq.com\/pdf\/1313508.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>). There\u2019s been no news about what happened with Mr. Purdy.<\/p>\n<h2>Does the Balance Sheet Add Up?<\/h2>\n<p>Recently, I spoke to a very cheerful young\u2062 woman\u2014I\u2019ll call her Belinda\u2014who recently arrived at BHP\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2023\/07\/how-a-remote-australian-mine-became-a-gender-balanced-workplace\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">showcase<\/a> for gender diversity at South Flank mine, where already \u200d40 percent of \u200cfrontline\u2063 employees are female as to are four out\u2063 of six senior managers.<\/p>\n<p>Belinda had formerly been in childcare but as a \u2062recent immigrant, she \u2062leapt at\u200b the chance of trying her hand in this quintessential Aussie industry.<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-left:0;margin-right:0;max-width:1200px\">\n<figure style=\"width:640px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>Coal trucks pass each other at BHP Billiton&#8217;s Mt Arthur coal mine \u2062in Muswellbrook, Australia, on\u200b Feb. 15, 2006. (Ian Waldie\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Belinda was full \u2064of\u2063 praise for the facilities South Flank set up to attract women\u2014two gyms, an \u2064outdoor pool, a library, a music room, plus daily events such as aerobic classes, visiting\u200c speakers, and\u2063 nightly cooking classes. Over $100 million (US$65 million) has been\u2062 spent on new lighting, \u200dCCTV, electronic door locks, and security.<\/p>\n<p>Hmmm\u2014The Big Australian \u2064boasts that all\u2062 this diversity is improving productivity. It must take some very creative accounting to prove that\u2019s the case once you factor in the\u200d costs of all this \u2062hoopla to keep women happy, don\u2019t you reckon?<\/p>\n<p>And get this\u2014South Flank is a new\u2062 mine\u200d and highly automated, so the mine was forced to actually recreate entry-level \u200droles\u2062 in order to employ women. Go figure \u2026<\/p>\n<h2>Add More\u200d Women, Problem Solved?<\/h2>\n<p>What happens if you push thousands of \u200byoung women into a very traditional male workforce?\u2064 Well, naturally the industry has been flooded with reports of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hes-not-charles-manson-co-hosts-split-over-biden-outburst-driving-the-view-off-the-rails\/\" title=\"\u2018He\u2019s Not Charles Manson\u2019: Co-Hosts Split Over Biden Outburst, Driving \u2018The View\u2019 Off The Rails\">men behaving badly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re currently seeing a huge campaign to change\u2062 the mining culture \u201cto keep\u200d women safe,\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global mining giant BHP&#8217;s ex-CEO, Andrew Mackenzie, created a stir at the 2016 annual meeting by declaring that achieving a 50% female workforce within a decade was a &#8220;moral imperative.&#8221; The media praised Mackenzie&#8217;s proposal to replace half of the male workforce with women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1455,"featured_media":2021770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2021769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2021770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}