Women Pass 10% of Peru’s Mining Workforce, but Retention Lags

Women passed 10% of Peru’s formal mining workforce for the first time in 2024, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM), which put the share at 10.1%, or about 22,240 women, up from 6.2% in 2015. The Instituto de Ingenieros de Minas del Perú (IIMP) says the more pressing issue for women in mining in Peru is no longer getting them hired. It is keeping them in operations and leadership.

The warning came from IIMP director Magaly Bardales in comments reported by Reporte Minero on 13 October 2026. She argues that attraction, retention and career growth have to be tackled together, and that the State, companies, academia and industry bodies all share the work.

Peru still trails Chile, Australia and Canada, where reported shares sit between roughly 16% and 24%, depending on how each country counts.

This piece shows where the milestone is thin, what the IIMP is proposing, and which workforce signals separate credible Peruvian operators from those producing hiring headlines.

Why does Peru’s 10% milestone look better than it is?

Double digits is a real marker. In under a decade, Peru’s female mining share has risen by nearly two-thirds, according to MINEM figures published on 3 February 2026.

The breakdown by role tells a different story. MINEM’s 2024 data reportedly shows women’s shares as follows:

• 24.2% of administrative roles
• 14.6% of management roles
• 8.9% of small-scale producer employment
• 13.3% of artisanal-mining employment

Earlier preliminary MINEM data, reported by Energiminas in January 2025, put women at roughly 5% of operations and 4% of plant roles, against 22% in administration. Those numbers come from a different basis and are not directly comparable. Still, the pattern is hard to miss: women cluster in offices, not on the pit floor.

The clustering of women in offices rather than the pit floor is not unique to Peru; in Chile, technical maintenance roles remain among the hardest for women to enter, with only about 4% of female mining workers employed in them.

The IIMP’s own 2025 institutional data cites 21,801 women, or 7.9% of mining employment. That reflects a different period and denominator, not a contradiction of MINEM’s figure.

How Peru compares with Chile, Australia and Canada

These figures are not like-for-like, so the “near 20%” cited for the three countries is a fair midpoint rather than a precise benchmark. For you, the lesson is simple: a single participation rate says little about who actually runs the drills or sits in the decision-making seat.

What is pushing women out, and what does the IIMP want changed?

The frictions are specific. A 2024 brochure from the UN Development Programme in Peru (PNUD) reportedly found 30% of surveyed women had experienced sexual harassment, with exposure highest among women aged 25-34 in copper mines. McKinsey research reportedly found more than 44% of women cited unequal promotion opportunities. At Anglo American’s Quellaveco mine, ill-fitting uniforms and inadequate bathrooms were identified as barriers. These findings have not been independently confirmed.

Bardales’ answer is coordination rather than recruitment drives.

IIMP’s core argument Bringing women into mining is not enough on its own. According to Bardales, attraction, retention and career growth must be addressed together, with the State, companies, academia and trade bodies each playing a part.

Peru has no statutory quota. Policy rests on MINEM monitoring and voluntary tools, including the IIMP’s gender-equity practical guide and its Gender-Equity Seal at PERUMIN. The institute counts more than 1,200 female members across engineering, geology, economics, law, community relations and communications.

The four measures, tested against the evidence

1. Shift systems: Remote rosters strain family life. The trade-off is real, because continuous-production sites limit how far schedules can flex without hitting safety and labour costs.
2. Site infrastructure: Quellaveco’s uniform and bathroom findings show basic facilities directly shape who stays.
3. Harassment-free workplaces: The PNUD figure makes this the sharpest issue. Formal policies fail if complaints are confidential only on paper or investigations stall.
4. Visible leadership roles: The McKinsey promotion data suggests women leave when advancement looks closed off.

Every one of these drivers sits within management’s control. That makes retention a measure of operating quality, not a side issue for the sustainability report.

Visible leadership roles matter partly because mentorship and knowledge transfer depend on having senior role models in place, and ageing workforces make that pipeline more urgent for every operator.

Which workforce signals should investors track in Peruvian miners?

Progress on site is possible. Two of Peru’s largest operations reportedly show it, though figures vary by period and basis.

An earlier account put Quellaveco at 25% overall and 38% of leadership, likely reflecting a different period or denominator.

The business case is framed around talent and risk. IIMP director Ana María Hasegawa has cited an International Labour Organization survey of more than 13,000 enterprises in which 57% reported business improvement from gender-diversity initiatives. Conduct failures and poor facilities, meanwhile, carry legal and reputational exposure. Peru’s gap between 14.6% in management and 24.2% in administration shows why headcount alone misleads.

Questions worth asking of any Peruvian operator

• Female representation by job family, especially operations and technical roles
• Contractor versus direct employment
• Promotion and attrition rates by gender
• Harassment complaint volumes and resolution
• Women’s share of operational and executive leadership

A company reporting only hiring counts may be flattering its environmental, social and governance (ESG) profile. Look for progression and attrition data before you treat diversity claims as evidence of operational strength.

Investors exploring how a major producer treats inclusion as an operating issue can read our deep-dive into Codelco’s gender diversity strategy, which looks beyond hiring counts.

What the 10% mark settles, and what the next data release must show

The milestone confirms momentum. It does not show that women are moving into operations, technical roles or management at the same pace, and that progression is the measure that will matter.

In the next MINEM release, watch the management and operations shares rather than the headline rate, and whether companies begin publishing retention and promotion data. Until they do, treat leadership pipeline evidence as the real test of any diversity claim in Peruvian mining.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with financial professionals before making investment decisions.