US passes a bill outlawing workplace discrimination based on hairstyles.
Zambia’s Mopani mine halts operations following accidents. CROWN Act protects employees from bias related to hairstyles. ILO suspends Russia operations. Study finds that women are under-represented in cybersecurity workforce.
Zambian mining company reports two fatalities in three days
Zambia's Mopani Copper Mines reported a second fatal accident in three days at the mine. In the first instance, the employee died after being hit by a skip from a headgear during routine maintenance. In the second, a contract worker died after falling through the roof of a copper concentrate storage shed.
Engineering Weekly says operations at the smelter concentrate shed where the accident occurred have been suspended until further notice, according to a company statement.
Act passed to protect bias based on hairstyles
The US House of Representatives has passed The Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN Act) which prohibits employers from firing, refusing to hire or otherwise discriminating against workers based on “hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair texture or that hairstyle is commonly associated with a particular race or national origin”.
According to the National Law Review, the bill states that routinely people of African descent are deprived of educational and employment opportunities because they are adorned with natural hairstyles.
UN’s labour agency suspends co-operation with Russia
The UN’s International Labour Organization has said it will halt all technical co-operation with Russia until it stops its war in Ukraine, further isolating Moscow on the world stage.
With headquarters in Geneva, the ILO aims to promote rights at work, encourage good employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues.
Al Jazeera reports that the ILO decided to “temporarily suspend technical co-operation or assistance from the ILO to the Russian Federation, except for the purpose of humanitarian assistance, until a ceasefire is agreed and a peaceful resolution is implemented”.
Women make up just 24 percent of the cybersecurity workforce
According to the latest (ISC)² Cybersecurity Workforce Study, women working in cybersecurity currently account for less than one quarter of the overall workforce. An estimated 3.7 million cybersecurity jobs are available but unfilled, with 377,000 of those vacancies located in the United States. By that measure, the global cybersecurity workforce will need to grow 65 percent in 2022 to effectively defend organisations’ critical assets.
CBS reports that currently, there’s just one woman serving as chief information security officer (CISO) among the top 10 largest companies in the US: Chandra McMahon, CISO of CVS Health.
A survey commissioned by Microsoft Security found that only 44 percent of female respondents felt sufficiently represented in their industry. Microsoft called recruitment of women “mission-critical” to filling the worldwide cybersecurity vacancies.
However, the gender gap marks just one of the cybersecurity workforce’s persistent challenges. Hispanic, African American, Asian and American Indian/Native Alaskan workers made up just four percent, nine percent, eight percent and one percent respectively of the cybersecurity workforce, according to the Aspen Institute.
