Abstract

The resources boom currently being enjoyed by much of our industry has brought with it challenges in attracting and retaining appropriately trained employees. Never has there been a better time, in recent history, for highly skilled and qualified employees to leverage their scarcity to attain better conditions of employment. Labour market conditions such as these should allow minorities (such as women) that have previously not participated in our workforce to a significant extent to enter the industry in greater numbers. However, as the statistics show (next slide), women have a long way to go before they approach anywhere near equal representation in our workforce.