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Wednesday, 20th December 2006 (2103 views)

Women are getting more recognition in the South African gold mining industry but few are making it to the top level, according to one expert.

Bridgette Radebe, the female head of her own junior mining firm and organisation representing small mining companies in South Africa, told SA's Business Report that the current situation was "unacceptable".

She said: "The opportunities are there, but women are not given the [chances] because there's a lot of resistance."

However, there are exceptions to the rule, such as Smangele Mngomezulu, who has gone from being a librarian for Anglo American to being banned from the mines under apartheid to heading her own mine-serving company.

Ms Mngomezulu said: "At the time, I never dreamed it would ever happen - that black people would actually have businesses at the mine.

"As a woman in those days, I could never, ever think of being involved in mining."

But now companies are aiming to employ more women, both in major mining companies and as part of small business schemes, although much of this has been a scramble to meet the government's requirement of having ten per cent of jobs filled by women by 2009.

 

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