72
mized their visits to the bathroom during the workday, while others control and
masculinize their attitude, behaviours and emotions. These changes impose maternal limitations, which impact the personal life of women. This aspect highlights a
distinct compromise that women consider to not be apparent in the male experience
in the extractive industry. Also, regarding the transition to motherhood, women lack
incentives to return to the company after having obtained maternity leave. This is
one of the factors that most heavily affects the sustainable leadership of women in
extractive industries, even in industrialized countries such as Australia. Women
after motherhood usually only return part-time or simply do not return at all (Terrill
2016).
Once adapted to the role of mothers, other factors emerge which influence their
leadership in the workplace. The reconciliation of work and family life is a key
struggle for women, which is deeply associated with the guilt and anguish of being
away from home and unable to exercise care for their children. According to Salinas
and Al Dajani, the greatest sacrifice for women is to get away from their families
and not be able to attend proxy meetings or school events and not being present on
important dates such as birthdays or anniversaries. This emotional pressure is exacerbated by work pressure and discrimination in the workplace. All these factors that
impact from the university life of women to positions of leadership in the industry
are not currently given proper consideration and therefore have a significant impact
outside and within the industry.
6.3 Methodology
The social reality of women in leadership within the extractive industry remains
volatile and organizationally subjective. Based on a qualitative methodology, this
chapter presents key discourse analysis of perceptions of female leadership at the
university, professional and sectoral levels. The research presented in this chapter
compares the perceptions of women students, professionals and relevant stakeholders in the extractive industry in Chile and Colombia (Salinas and Cárdenas 2009;
Denzin and Lincoln 2012). The research design is descriptive for comparative purposes between the two countries in Latin America.
The study conducted at the university level revealed that there are a series of factors that compromise women’s leadership at the organizational level. The women
interviewed noted that the dominance of masculine interests appeared early in the
classroom setting and remained evident in the workforce. This is more predominant
in the interrelationships between students and educators and employers and employees. Primarily, this was apparent through negative reinforcements and comments
made by supervisors, which increased the difficulty of carrying out their professional
practices and projects, among others (Salinas and Romaní 2017). Therefore, the focus
of this article lies in the perceptions of female students, professionals and other relevant actors in the extractive industry. The challenges that women face and the assets
that they require in order to develop sustained leadership skills and career developI. B. Franco et al.
mized their visits to the bathroom during the workday, while others control and
masculinize their attitude, behaviours and emotions. These changes impose maternal limitations, which impact the personal life of women. This aspect highlights a
distinct compromise that women consider to not be apparent in the male experience
in the extractive industry. Also, regarding the transition to motherhood, women lack
incentives to return to the company after having obtained maternity leave. This is
one of the factors that most heavily affects the sustainable leadership of women in
extractive industries, even in industrialized countries such as Australia. Women
after motherhood usually only return part-time or simply do not return at all (Terrill
2016).
Once adapted to the role of mothers, other factors emerge which influence their
leadership in the workplace. The reconciliation of work and family life is a key
struggle for women, which is deeply associated with the guilt and anguish of being
away from home and unable to exercise care for their children. According to Salinas
and Al Dajani, the greatest sacrifice for women is to get away from their families
and not be able to attend proxy meetings or school events and not being present on
important dates such as birthdays or anniversaries. This emotional pressure is exacerbated by work pressure and discrimination in the workplace. All these factors that
impact from the university life of women to positions of leadership in the industry
are not currently given proper consideration and therefore have a significant impact
outside and within the industry.
6.3 Methodology
The social reality of women in leadership within the extractive industry remains
volatile and organizationally subjective. Based on a qualitative methodology, this
chapter presents key discourse analysis of perceptions of female leadership at the
university, professional and sectoral levels. The research presented in this chapter
compares the perceptions of women students, professionals and relevant stakeholders in the extractive industry in Chile and Colombia (Salinas and Cárdenas 2009;
Denzin and Lincoln 2012). The research design is descriptive for comparative purposes between the two countries in Latin America.
The study conducted at the university level revealed that there are a series of factors that compromise women’s leadership at the organizational level. The women
interviewed noted that the dominance of masculine interests appeared early in the
classroom setting and remained evident in the workforce. This is more predominant
in the interrelationships between students and educators and employers and employees. Primarily, this was apparent through negative reinforcements and comments
made by supervisors, which increased the difficulty of carrying out their professional
practices and projects, among others (Salinas and Romaní 2017). Therefore, the focus
of this article lies in the perceptions of female students, professionals and other relevant actors in the extractive industry. The challenges that women face and the assets
that they require in order to develop sustained leadership skills and career developI. B. Franco et al.