BAGUIO CITY – Former Ambassador Delia Albert underscored the importance of infusing the Swedish feminist work force in the country’s robust mining industry to enhance the quest for a sustainable minerals industry in the future.
Albert, who was also the first woman Foreign Affairs Secretary, said that the implementation of the Swedish feminist work force has been successful which must be emulated by the country’s mineral industry for better inclusivity and enhance the practice of gender equality in the male-dominated mining industry.
She claimed that the country’s mining industry seems to be on the right track in the implementation of the desired feminist workforce because of the increasing number of women being employed in the various fields of the minerals industry coupled with the increase in females taking up mining-related courses leading towards gainful employment in the said industry.
Albert joined head of Mission of the Embassy of Sweden in Manila Ambassador Herald Fries, Swedish Trade Commissioner Johan Lennefalk, and Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association (PMSEA) president and ASEAN Engineer Luis R. Sarmiento in the panel during the launching press conference of the 70th Annual Mine Safety and Environment Conference spearheaded by the PMSEA in the city.
According to her, Philippine mining companies must benchmark with Swedish firms to learn on the ways to successfully implement the feminist workplace for the same to be replicated in the country to provide greater opportunities for women to be actively involved in the country’s mineral industry.
The former ambassador pointed out that there is still a long way to go for women to be an integral part of the mining industry and be part of one of the major industries that drive the country’s economy amidst its meager contribution to the overall economy.
At present, mining contributes only 0.5 percent because only three percent of the country’s over nine million hectares of mineralized land have been tapped for mining.
Albert challenged the women mining professionals to set an example for others to follow their footsteps and become their inspiration so that more of them will be joining the lucrative minerals industry and contribute in increasing the placements of mining in the country’s economy.
Alber is the chairperson of the Diwata Women in Resource Development, Inc., an organization of women in the mining industry which serves as one of the major partners of PMseA in the conduct of the Annual Mine Safety and Environment Conference being held in the city every November.
She expressed hope that there will come a time that there will be a significant number of women in the country’s mining industry to ensure the presence of a feminist workplace and gender equality in the industry that remains to be male-dominated to date.
Albert is a native of Baguio who grew up with the mining industry that was instrumental in spurring the city’s growth and development over the past several decades considering that the nearby town of Itogon was the home of various mining companies that operated in the early 1900s. By Dexter A. See
