Lynas held a belated IWD luncheon in Kalgoorlie last Friday to celebrate the women in its workforce. The company has held a similar event in Malaysia since 2015 but now has a critical mass of women in Australia to allow its inaugural Australian celebration.

In a speech to the luncheon, Lacaze admitted the fight for equality was sometimes "a little overwhelming".

"And I asked myself, what more can I do? Well, the number one thing that I can do is to make sure that we increase the outcomes for women in our organisation," she said.

At Lynas' first IWD event in Kuantan, Malaysia, in 2015, Lacaze recalls she set out her objectives for women working for the company.

"One, that they should have the opportunity to reach their full potential. In particular, they should be employed in roles that are appropriate to their qualifications," she said.

"In particular, they should be employed in roles that are appropriate to their qualifications. When I first came into Lynas I found women underemployed all over the organisation - doing administrative roles when they had a chemical engineering degree - that was one of the most egregious examples.

"I wanted Lynas to become an employer of choice for women and I simply wanted more women in Lynas. Our lack of diversity at the time guaranteed we didn't have the best team that we could have."

When Lacaze joined the company in 2015, Lynas employed 63 women, which declined to 58 in 2016.

"That was the year I promised absolutely that we would do more," she said.

In 2017, Lynas had 91 female employees, or about 15.5% of its workforce, increasing to 16% in 2018.

"Still not good enough but getting better," Lacaze said.

At the start of 2019, Lynas had 116 female employees.

"Today I am really proud to report that we have a total of 235 women in Lynas, so that's about 23.5%. There are 196 in Malaysia and 49 in Australia," Lacaze said.

"I am finally a little bit pleased with our progress.

"I am particularly pleased that we have women in all parts of the business. We have technicians, we have operators, we have metallurgists, geos, chemists, chemical engineers, finance and purchasing, administration, legal and even leadership - because I'm the boss!"

Lacaze pointed out that there was a difference between equality and equity.

"Equality is giving everyone a shoe. Equity is giving everyone a shoe that fits. So while equality is the goal, equity is the means to get there," she said.

"What does that mean for us at Lynas? It means equality in our recruitment processes, in our performance management processes and promotion and career management processes.

"We get there by ensuring equity, ensuring we have placed you in roles where you can be successful, when you have the skills required, when you have the training to improve and when you have the support to grow in conditions that ensure you can do your best work every day."

Lynas chair Kathleen Conlon said there were two things she'd like to see which would help to move the dial on gender equality.

"Let's stop trying to fix the women. Most of the diversity initiatives are around fixing the women," she said.

"The second thing is if we all embrace keeping everybody safe, which means keeping women safe, the culture men and women have to have says that everybody should be safe.

"Women should not have to worry about walking down the street, women should not have to worry about what they wear because a man might respond differently.

"If, as men and women, we embrace that keeping everybody safe, women and children and keeping all men safe, in everything that we do, if we really truly embrace that, we would fundamentally change equality and equity."

Earlier this week, federal resources minister Madeleine King told Parliament that there was an opportunity to redefine what the resources sector meant for gender equality.

She noted that women made up 21.5% of the resource sector's workforce and employing more women was a good way to increase the supply of skills.

"But women still face discrimination and harassment in these workplaces," King said.

"That's why we're committed to working with industry to ensure we have safe and inclusive workplaces that not only welcome and encourage women, but value and support them to lead."