Gender Roles

Citation:

Bradshaw, Sarah, Brian Linneker, and Lisa Overton. 2017. “Extractive Industries as Sites of Supernormal Profits and Supernormal Patriarchy?” Gender & Development 25 (3): 439–54. 

Authors: Sarah Bradshaw, Brian Linneker, Lisa Overton

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
This article considers how patriarchal power relations between men and women are produced and reproduced within extractive industries, and examines the idea that the ‘supernormal profits’ to be made there encourage the development of ‘supernormal patriarchy’. By looking at the sites where extraction takes place and relationships between men and women within these sites, we show the extreme and exaggerated gender roles and relations that are found here. We nuance this account by highlighting the need to recognise that patriarchal power is not felt equally by all women and men. Exploring the different roles women adopt in the extractives context we demonstrate the fluidity of women’s identities as workers, ‘whores’, and wives with a focus on transactional sex. The article demonstrates the importance of not seeing women merely as victims of patriarchal relations, or making assumptions about how these relations operate, or the form they take. Better understanding of the range of gender roles adopted in the extractives and the supernormal patriarchal relations that produce and reproduce these is needed by policymakers. This will enable them to promote gender equality and natural resource justice, as part of an agenda to redistribute wealth gains from natural resource extraction.

SPANISH ABSTRACT:
El presente artículo examina cómo son producidas y reproducidas las  relaciones de poder patriarcales entre hombres y mujeres al interior de las industrias extractivas. Además, analiza la idea de que las “utilidades
extraordinarias” que se producen allí constituyen un aliciente para el desarrollo de un “patriarcado extraordinario”. Observando los sitios en que se realiza la extracción y las relaciones entre hombres y mujeres que se establecen en los mismos, los autores dan cuenta de los roles y las relaciones de género extremos y exagerados que pueden encontrarse en estos lugares. Por otra parte, matizan estos hallazgos y destacan la necesidad de reconocer que el poder patriarcal no es experimentado de la misma manera por las mujeres que por los hombres. Al examinar los distintos roles adoptados por las mujeres en el contexto extractivo, los autores muestran la fluidez que exhiben las identidades de las mujeres como trabajadoras, como “prostitutas” y como esposas, centrándose en el sexo transaccional. El artículo señala la importancia que reviste no ver a las mujeres solo como víctimas de relaciones patriarcales, no formular supuestos sobre cómo operan estas relaciones, y no definir su forma. Por ello, los formuladores de políticas deben comprender mejor la variedad exhibida por los roles de género presentes en la industria extractiva y las relaciones patriarcales extraordinarias que se producen y reproducen a partir de los mismos. De esta manera podrán promover la igualdad de género y la justicia en torno a los recursos naturales como parte de una agenda orientada a distribuir las ganancias producidas por su extracción.

FRENCH ABSTRACT:
Cet article traite de la manière dont les rapports de force patriarcaux entre les hommes et les femmes sont produits et reproduits au sein des industries extractives, et examine par ailleurs l’idée selon laquelle
les « bénéfices supranormaux » qui peuvent y être réalisés encouragent le développement d’un « patriarcat supernormal ». En se penchant sur les sites dans lesquels a lieu l’extraction et sur les rapports entre les hommes et les femmes dans ces sites, nous mettons en évidence les rôles de genre extrêmes et exagérés et les relations que l’on y observe. Pour nuancer ce compte rendu, nous mettons en relief la nécessité de reconnaître le fait que le pouvoir patriarcal n’est pas ressenti en même mesure par toutes les femmes et tous les hommes. Nous examinons les différents rôles qu’assument les femmes dans le contexte extractif pour mettre en évidence la fluidité des identités des femmes comme travailleuses, « putains » et épouses, en nous concentrant sur les rapports sexuels transactionnels. Cet article montre combien il est important de ne pas voir les femmes comme seulement des victimes des rapports patriarcaux, ou de faire des suppositions sur la manière dont ces rapports fonctionnent, ou la forme qu’ils prennent. Il faut que les personnes chargées de formuler les politiques comprennent mieux la variété de rôles sexo-spécifiques adoptés dans les industries extractives et les rapports patriarcaux supranormaux qui produisent et reproduisent ces rôles. Ils pourront ainsi promouvoir l’égalité entre les sexes et la justice en matière de ressources naturelles, dans le cadre d’un programme de redistribution de l’augmentation des richesses tirées de l’extraction des ressources naturelles.

Keywords: extractive industries, gender inequality, supernormal profit, supernormal patriarchy

Topics: Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Patriarchy, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Tanzania

Year: 2017

Citation:

Ibrahim, Aisha Fofana, Blair Rutherford, and Doris Buss. 2020. “Gendered ‘Choices’ in Sierra Leone: Women in Artisanal Mining in Tonkolili District.” Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines 54 (1): 157–76. 

Authors: Aisha Fofana Ibrahim, Blair Rutherford, Doris Buss

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
This paper examines women’s “choices” in artisanal gold mining in Tonkolili District, Sierra Leone. It argues that women’s status in Sierra Leone and their socio-economic conditions contribute to the particular economic practices within artisanal gold mining in which they are able to participate. Showing how state interventions are enmeshed in the pre-existing social relations, dependency ties and governance relations in gold mining sites, it examines how gendered norms and practices, combined with governance issues pertaining to the effectiveness of policy in advancing equality, contribute to keeping women in gendered roles and limit their empowerment and full participation in the sector. These norms and relationships largely work against women, keeping them on the margins of the artisanal gold mines even while this economic activity may provide women (and their households) with muchneeded financial resources.

FRENCH ABSTRACT:
Cet article examine les « choix » des femmes en matière d’extraction artisanale de l’or dans le district de Tonkolili, en Sierra Leone. Il soutient que le statut et les conditions socioéconomiques des femmes en Sierra Leone contribuent aux pratiques économiques particulières du secteur de l’extraction artisanale de l’or auxquelles elles sont capables de participer. En montrant comment les interventions de l’État sont imbriquées dans les rapports sociaux préexistants, les liens de dépendance et les relations de gouvernance dans les sites aurifères, l’article examine comment les normes et les pratiques genrées, associées aux problèmes de gouvernance relatifs à l’efficacité des politiques de promotion de l’égalité entre les genres, contribuent à maintenir les femmes dans des rôles genrés et à limiter leur habilitation et leur pleine participation au secteur. Ces normes et ces relations jouent en défaveur des femmes, en les maintenant à la marge des mines d’or artisanales, alors que cette activité économique peut offrir aux femmes (et à leurs familles) des ressources financières très nécessaires.

Keywords: Sierra Leone, gender, artisanal mining, governance, genre, exploitation minière artisanale, gouvernance

Topics: Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Roles, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Sierra Leone

Year: 2020

Citation:

Benya, Asanda. 2017. “Going Underground in South African Platinum Mines to Explore Women Miners’ Experiences.” Gender & Development 25 (3): 509–22.

Author: Asanda Benya

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
Women have worked underground in South African mines since 2003. Their inclusion has been lauded by some as a step in the right direction – that is, towards gender equality in employment, as well as challenging gender stereotypes about work and women’s abilities. This dominant narrative, however, fails to acknowledge and address the challenges faced by women in mining. Using participant observation, living and working alongside women miners over the course of a year, I explored these challenges, and analysed their implications. I argue that if the mining sector wants to fully include women in mining, it needs to go beyond using quotas to achieve gender parity in numbers of women and men workers. While access to these jobs is important, retention depends on addressing the masculine culture which is deeply embedded in mining, making this a very challenging environment for women workers.

SPANISH ABSTRACT:
Desde 2003, las mujeres han trabajado en las minas subterráneas de Sudáfrica. A pesar de que algunos comentaristas han elogiado su inclusión como un avance hacia la igualdad de género en el empleo y como una manera de cuestionar los estereotipos de género vinculados al trabajo y las habilidades de las mujeres, esta narrativa predominante no reconoce ni enfrenta los retos que deben experimentar en la industria minera. A partir de la observación participante, y considerando mis propias vivencias y el trabajo realizado codo a codo con mujeres mineras durante un año, pude examinar dichos retos y analizar sus implicaciones. Sostengo que si se desea integrar plenamente a las mujeres en las actividades del sector minero éste debe superar el uso de cuotas para lograr la paridad de género en términos del número de trabajadores varones y mujeres. Si bien es importante tener acceso a estos empleos, la retención de las mujeres mineras depende de que esta industria enfrente la profundamente arraigada cultura masculina, a partir de la cual se ha generado un entorno difícil para las mujeres trabajadoras.

FRENCH ABSTRACT:
Les femmes travaillent sous terre dans les mines sud-africaines depuis 2003. Leur inclusion a été louée par certains comme un pas dans la bonne direction – autrement dit un progrès vers l’égalité entre les sexes sur le marché du travail –, ainsi que comme un aspect remettant en cause les stéréotypes de genre relatifs au travail et aux aptitudes des femmes. Cependant, ce fil narratif dominant ne reconnaît ni n’aborde les défis auxquels sont confrontées les femmes dans le secteur minier. En utilisant les observations des participants et en vivant et travaillant aux côtés de femmes mineurs pendant un an, je me suis penchée sur ces défis et en ai analysé les implications. Je soutiens que si le secteur minier veut pleinement inclure les femmes dans les activités minières, il doit aller au-delà de l’utilisation de quotas pour parvenir à la parité entre les sexes pour ce qui est du nombre d’ouvriers femmes et hommes. Si l’accès à ces emplois est important, la fidélisation dépend d’une lutte contre la culture masculine qui est profondément ancrée dans le secteur minier, ce qui en fait un environnement très difficile pour les ouvrières.

Keywords: women in mining, mining charter, masculine culture, transformation in mining, mining occupational culture

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Roles, Masculinity/ies, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Masculinism Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2017

Citation:

Lahiri-Dutt, Kuntala. 2020. “The Act That Shaped the Gender of Industrial Mining: Unintended Impacts of the British Mines Act of 1842 on Women’s Status in the Industry.” The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2): 389–97. 

Author: Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt

Abstract:

In the 19th century, public outrage over poor working conditions of children in underground coal mines in the UK led to the enactment of the Mines and Collieries Act 1842. It prohibited boys under the age of ten and all females from laboring in underground mines. This Act wiped out the long and impressive history of women’s labor in the mining industry, and pushed women into more insecure areas of work. Later, during the 1920s and 1930s, this Act became the model for the International Labour Organization (ILO) to adopt protective legislation around women’s labor in the mining industry. Although unintended, the Act established ideals for decent work for women as per the Victorian norm and eventually led to the contemporary global context of hypermasculinity of the mining industry. The paper shows how women’s labor in mines—within a strict sex-based division of tasks—was, and remains, subject to gender ideologies that are not only propagated at home, but assume an authoritative position when adopted by the state.

Keywords: gender in mining, women in mining, protective legislation, British Mines Act, women's labor in mining, ILO and women's mining

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Roles, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Masculinism Regions: Europe, Northern Europe Countries: United Kingdom

Year: 2020

Citation:

Lawson, Lynda, and Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt. 2020. “Women Sapphire Traders in Madagascar: Challenges and Opportunities for Empowerment.” The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2): 405–11. 

Authors: Lynda Lawson, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt

Abstract:

Recent literature has seen a growing appreciation of livelihoods based on informal artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) that supplements women’s primary reproductive roles, leaving a gap in the parts women play at the trading end of the value chain of ASM. This paper fills that void by adding to the growing body of research on gendered trade in ASM. It focuses on women traders and the complex challenges and opportunities they face while carrying out this informal trade. The paper is based on extensive field research, interviews, and focus group discussions of women sapphire traders in southwest Madagascar, colloquially known as “ladies in hats,” who work in clan-based associations described as nascent proto-institutions. It draws upon institutional and entrepreneurial theory to understand their position in the sapphire value chain, and illuminates how women’s status could be strengthened to create the foundation for a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. The paper also asks how women traders can be empowered in view of the current opportunities and challenges, and suggests that the proto-institutions could form the basis of a cooperative or a small company if regulatory and financial settings for these women can be improved and if there is an opportunity for them to formalize their trade.

Keywords: women in informal trade in Africa, Madagascar women, Madagascar sapphire, gender and mining

Topics: Economies, Informal Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Roles, Women, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Madagascar

Year: 2020

Citation:

Zharkevich, Ina. 2019. “Gender, Marriage, and the Dynamic of (Im)Mobility in the Mid-Western Hills of Nepal.” Mobilities 14 (5): 681–95.

Author: Ina Zharkevich

Abstract:

This paper explores the relationship between gender, marriage, and (im)mobility in rural hilly areas of mid-Western Nepal, showing how (1) the mobility of men is predicated on the ‘immobility’ of women, with marriage being key to the gendered dynamic of (im)mobility, (2) how the construction of hegemonic masculinity, exemplified by a figure of a successful international migrant, is inseparable from an ideal of femininity vested in the figure of a virtuous domesticated housewife. Examining different scales of mobility, the paper cautions against posing a rigid dichotomy between ‘mobile men’ and ‘immobile’ women, illustrating that the ‘left behind’ wives experience an impressive degree of everyday mobility in contrast to their internationally mobile husbands.

Keywords: Nepal, gender, migration, marriage, mobility, immobility, masculinity, femininity

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Gender, Gender Roles, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Nepal

Year: 2019

Citation:

Williams, Catharina Purwani. 2005. “‘Knowing One’s Place’: Gender, Mobility and Shifting Subjectivity in Eastern Indonesia.” Global Networks 5 (4): 401–17.

Author: Catharina Purwani Williams

Abstract:

In this article I analyse the gendered space of transnational mobility by problematizing migrant subjectivity in everyday practices. In line with feminist perspectives I highlight the significance of the micro-scale experience of female migrants from Eastern Indonesia in acquiring mobility as a struggle for new subjectivity. I frame this migration as a production of the subjective space of power. Based on in-depth interviews with returned migrants, I present reflexive accounts of two migrants on contract domestic work abroad to illuminate the changing contours of the relationships between gender, mobility and shifting subjectivity. Households take into account the cultural meanings of space in everyday life including local relations in the decisions on mobility. Strategies of ‘knowing one's place’ reflect women's agency in negotiating alternative roles and positions within the intra-household dynamics and in the workplace. Women's personal accounts have the potential to illuminate spatial processes of migration as a contested space for the repositioning of self in networks of family, kin, local and global relations.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Feminisms, Gender, Gender Roles, Women Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Indonesia

Year: 2005

Citation:

Oliveira, Catarina Sales de. 2014. “Still Driven - Mobility Patterns and Gender Roles in Portugal.” Working paper, CIES-IUL, Lisbon.

Author: Catarina Sales de Oliveira

Abstract:

This article explores the relationship between gender and mobility based on the results of a PhD research about the mobility patterns in Portuguese metropolis. Mobility of human groups is one of the strongest trends of the last century with continuity to the present (Sheller and Urry, 2006). Although the empowerment of women in western societies, geographical mobility continues to be gender specific. If this situation is not new at international scene, in Portugal it raises interesting questions as the country has suffered recent and important social changes precisely in what concerns women roles. Using both an hypothetical deductive analytical model and combining quantitative with qualitative techniques in this research we were able to identify different mobility profiles according mainly to social identity in which gender performs a central role.

Topics: Gender, Gender Roles, Women Regions: Europe, Southern Europe Countries: Portugal

Year: 2014

Citation:

Authors: Sigrid Metz-Göckel, Mirjana Morokvasic-Müller, A. Senganata Münst

Annotation:

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Economies, Gender, Gender Roles, Women Regions: Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe Countries: Germany, Italy, Poland

Year: 2008

Citation:

Hernando, Almudena, Gustavo Politis, Alfredo González Ruibal, and Elizabeth Beserra Coelho. 2011. “Gender, Power, and Mobility among the Awá-Guajá (Maranhão, Brazil).” Journal of Anthropological Research 67 (2): 189–211.

Authors: Almudena Hernando, Gustavo Politis, Alfredo González Ruibal, Elizabeth Beserra Coelho

Abstract:

The Awá (also known as Guajá) are hunter-gatherers whose way of life prior to their first contact with Brazilian society has been altered after relocation to a reservation. Basically, their mobility is reduced and they have been forced to start cultivation. Although these changes are beginning to affect women's social role, the traditional power relationships can still be inferred from the present conditions. The aim of this paper is twofold: (1) to argue that, in otherwise "egalitarian" societies, the differences in physical mobility involved in the complementary tasks carried out by men and women may account for gender inequality on the symbolic domain, given that mobility is a key factor in the construction of personhood in contexts of "relational, "non-individualized identity; and (2) to check the validity of that assumption in the light of fieldwork data about gender relationships among the Awá-Guajá.

Topics: Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Indigenous Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Brazil

Year: 2011