BREAKING: Leaders at U.S. Department of State & Institute of Sonoran Women Lead the Way to Strengthen AZ/SON Ties

Hermosillo, Sonora, March 12, 2021 – The MegaWomen in the Megaregion forum connected more than 100 women from Arizona and Sonora to discuss the challenges of women miners and businesses on both sides of the border. The virtual event brought together established and up-and-coming leaders for future alliances and business opportunities in mining, a strategic sector in the energy transition.

The forum “Las Mineras: MegaWomen de la MegaRegion” was co-organized by WorldWise Coaching and the Sonora Mining Cluster, with the support of the U.S. Consulate General in Nogales, and sponsorship of the POWER initiative of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, which promotes women’s economic empowerment and leadership internationally.

Consul General Laura Biedebach, Acting Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Office of Energy Resources, Virginia Palmer; and the Executive Coordinator of the Sonoran Institute for Women (ISM), Blanca Luz Saldaña, on behalf of the Governor of Sonora, Claudia Pavlovich, welcomed the forum participants within the context of International Women’s Day.

“Economic development and the empowerment of women go hand in hand and are vital to promote the development of the megaregion,” said Consul General Biedebach, who shared that the U.S. Consulate General in Nogales works with business chambers, NGOs, and universities to develop exchange opportunities for women who want to study and work in STEM fields.

Ambassador Palmer stressed that “the economic empowerment of women and equal opportunities are key, therefore the U.S. State Department created the POWER initiative that connects the economic and diplomatic sector to promote opportunities for women.”

Regarding the participation of women in mining and the role of this sector, Palmer said: “Renewable energies require a huge amount of minerals: electric cars, batteries, solar panels and other clean technologies require mining. Copper is central to the megaregion. We must continue doing sustainable and inclusive mining.”

ISM Coordinator, Blanca Saldaña, also added that “mining women, MegaWomen, go hand in hand, we have a different language but we are united by the same objective: the economic strengthening and development of women in the megaregion.”

The program coordinated by Dr. Margarita Bejarano, General Director of the Sonora Mining Cluster and the CEO of WorldWise Coaching, Jennifer Burge included the participation of academics, business women, and mining sector leaders who spoke during four panels and gave presentations on cross-border trade opportunities as well as regulation changes created by the T-MEC / USMCA trade agreement that impact mining and other industries.

Jennifer Burge, moderator of the Business Skills and Strategies for Women in Mining panel, reiterated that intercultural business skills are a key success factor of this cross-border collaborative channel. “Multiple studies have proven that multicultural teams produce more robust solutions to complex challenges due to their diverse backgrounds and experiences.” In addition, she noted that “Women account for half of the world’s population but contribute only 37 percent of global GDP. Facilitating women’s access to labor markets could add $12 trillion to world GDP by 2025.”

In these spaces, panelists highlighted the current status of women in the mining sector, where despite evidence of progress in their inclusion, there is still considerable opportunity to achieve greater representation in the industry, with the integration of more women in all areas, especially in decision-making positions.

“We are very far from equality, women in the world of work still face triple shifts, precariousness, harassment and violence; and unfortunately the participation of women in the mining sector in Sonora has been reduced. The latest figures from INEGI show a drastic reduction in the participation of women in the mining sector in Sonora, in 2020 only 7.3% of the sector was women, compared to the 15.7% in 2018 “, explained Dr. Bejarano.

In addition, Melissa Sanderson, Chairwoman of the Mining Committee of the Arizona-Mexico Commission said that mining continues to be a “men’s club”, women are often in the soft skills areas that support the sector such as sustainability, community relations and government, accounting, or legal: “but there is a lack of more women in key areas of production and mining processes, that is where women must lead, manage and occupy spaces on boards of directors.”

María Fernanda Romero, president of WIM Chapter of Sonora; María López de la Rosa, Administrative Manager of Exploration of Silvercrest Metals and Karen Flores, General Director of CAMIMEX, highlighted that one of the advantages for women who come to this sector is that mining offers better salaries than other careers. The average salary in metallic mining is 80% higher than the average income of women in Mexico and 23% higher in non-metallic mining.

The MegaWomen agreed on the need to motivate more women to participate in mining, from the stage of professional studies in engineering and create allies and spaces to provide the opportunity for more women to lead.

According to Elizabeth Araux, Research Professor at the University of Sonora, “In 2017, only 5.2% of Mexican women held a position in the largest publicly traded corporations compared to the 20% average for the OECD. Mexico is missing out on the talent of all of these qualified women and this has the potential to boost the economy of our country.”

This forum was a first step in addressing education, leadership, strategies, and networks for women in mining in Sonora and Arizona. To learn more and hear directly from the MegaWomen, you can view the entire program on Youtube: “Las Mineras: MegaWomen of the Megaregion AZ-SON” here: (https://youtu.be/SvNXgRcZRFw?t=179).

DOWNLOAD THE PRESS RELEASE HERE MWM Press Release 14MAR2021