6 December 2017
After close to 15 years working for De Beers in South Africa and Canada’s Northwest Territories, Michelle Peters knows a thing or two about being a woman working in the mining industry. She was one of three presenters who shared their experiences and insights to increasing the number of women in mining to an audience of 45 female high school students. The presentation to Grades 11-12 students from high schools in Yellowknife and Behchoko took place at a luncheon hosted by De Beers Canada on November 17 in Yellowknife.The event was organized as part of De Beers’ effort to increase workforce diversity. In addition to a Gender Diversity & Inclusion team working on internal policies and programs to enhance diversity, the company has also launched a scholarship program in partnership with UN Women. De Beers has committed $300,000 to a new scholarship program focused on encouraging Canadian women, to enter careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. The first scholarships will be awarded in coming weeks to two students at the University of Waterloo, with an additional 16 De Beers scholarships to be awarded for 2018-2019 that includes a focus on female students from communities close to De Beers operations in in Canada. Globally, as a global Thematic Champion for diversity with UN Women, De Beers in investing $3 million (US) in programs to support women in all of its producer companies.