Women in Mining

According to Elizabeth Araux Sánchez, Academic Secretary of Civil Engineering and Mining at the University of Sonora, the rise in female enrollment in earth science programs in the last few years is due to a combination of factors. On the one hand, high metal prices as well as the mining boom in Sonora have drawn students’ attention, because professional mining salaries are among the highest. Women’s professional capabilities and skills are also becoming more recognized in mining. “There is greater gender equality in the work place. The perception that mining is solely a man’s job has therefore diminished in social thinking,” Araux Sánchez adds.

According to data from the Office of Planning at the University of Sonora, during the 1980s 476 students graduated from Geology, Mining Engineering and Metallurgical Chemical Engineering programs. In total, 40 of them were women (18 geologists, 5 mining engineers and 17 metallurgical chemical engineers), which is equal to 8.4% of the total student population. During the 1990s, due to the cyclical nature of the industry, the numbers went down and there were only 363 graduates, of which 27, or 7.4%, were female (8 geologists and 19 metallurgical chemical engineers). The 2000s saw the percentage of the female student population double to 15.2%. During this decade there were 678 graduates, of which 103 were women (56 geologists, 20 mining engineers and 27 metallurgical chemical engineers). Between 2010 and 2013 so far, of the 219 graduates 16% have been women: (23 geologists, 9 mining engineers and 4 metallurgical chemical engineers). However, the most outstanding figure is this year’s, with 759 students enrolled, females make up 100 geologists, 82 mining engineers and 15 metallurgical chemical engineers: a total of 197 women, increasing the female population to almost 26%.