In its employment policies, ArcelorMittal Liberia has ensured proactive strategies in the field of professional equality across all of its departments.
This promotes gender balance at the workplace and empowers more women in Liberia at a time when hundreds of them are on the margins of employments, and for the few who have jobs, they are mostly in low-paying jobs.
ArcelorMittal gender sensitive employment policy has made it possible in particular to achieve a good overall level of equal pay, equal individual increases and individual increase rates upon return from maternity leave for women employed with the mining concession.
As more women continued to take up key roles ranging from administration to logistics, operation and even up the mine, some are giving back to the community in a number of ways.
This is why two enterprising young female teammates of ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML) were honored as speakers for a symposium organized by the College of Education and Humanities of the Grand Bassa University (GBU) on Friday, August 19, 2022.
ArcelorMittal Liberia Employees Relations Coordinator, Romell Peterlyn Nyoun, along with Lois Kumba Abudu, intern under the company’s Young Professionals Program (YPP), assigned in Human Resources, spoke as proxies for the Head of Organizational Development and Human Resources of ArcelorMittal Liberia, Rose Kingston.
Nyoun spoke on the topic, “Education—A Tool for Peace and Reconciliation”, while Lois focused on the topic “Education—A Tool for Nation Building and Social Justice”.
In separate addresses, the young AML female staff congratulated students at the College of Education and Humanities on their decision to seek tertiary education in the face of common challenges students are confronted with in seeking quality education.
Speaking on the topic, “Education—A Tool for Peace and Reconciliation”, Nyoun said education is the only viable tool that can attend to the plight of a nation, setting the nation on a good footing.
“The peace we want today begins with each of us. Hence, knowing our rights and responsibilities as citizens is undoubtedly a contributing factor to a functioning society that promotes peace, love and reconciliation amongst its citizens,” she said.
“I admonish you students and student leaders of GBU to be ambassadors of peace in your homes, communities, churches and organizations through the education you are acquiring today.”
She encouraged the students to use their education to create a society of freedom, justice, equality and prosperity for all.
“This is our generation! Our mission must be to ensure that the education we acquire today from this noble institution must be used to create a society of freedom, justice, equality and prosperity for all,” Nyoun stated.
For her part, Abudu while speaking on “Education—A Tool for Nation Building and Social Justice”, said developing the human mind begins with awareness and establishment of systems and processes, while also paving the way for better utilization of resources, both human and material.
With good education, she said the human capital is developed to contribute to the growth of society.
“The responsibility of building a nation essentially lies in the hands of its citizens, most importantly the youth. Talking about education, I don’t mean the pursuit of top grades, but rather having the top grade, yes, and a good and clear understanding of what is being taught,” she said.
“Without education or where education is low, we can see that there is no established order; there you find anarchy and chaos.”
ArcelorMittal has in time past stated that it aims to support equal opportunities and further expand its talent pool by recruiting and promoting women within its structures.
A variety of initiatives are already in place in its Liberia operational areas, as well as local work sites to promote the steel industry and change its image in order to encourage women to join the company.
The company’s modern technical vocational training facility in Yekepa, Nimba County, recently encouraged more young women to enroll into the state-of-the-art facility.
The company has regularly encouraged women to take up engineering careers at a number of universities and acquire skills that are needed in the mining industry.
A study commissioned by ArcelorMittal from an independent firm showed at the end of 2018 that there was no significant gender pay gap between men and women in the company’s management.