Political Economies

Financial Inclusion for Women and Men in Artisanal Gold Mining Communities: A Case Study from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Citation:

Reichel, Victoria. 2019. "Financial Inclusion for Women and Men in Artisanal Gold Mining Communities: A Case Study from the Democratic Republic of the Congo." The Extractive Industries and Society. In Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2019.05.003

Author: Victoria Reichel

Abstract:

This article presents results from a community-led savings and credit project implemented by the Canadian non-governmental organization IMPACT in six artisanal gold mining communities in Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Artisanal Mining Women's Empowerment Credit & Savings project (known in French as Autonomisation des femmes par l’épargne et le crédit communautaire responsible or AFECCOR) supports more than 1400 women and men in artisanal gold mining communities to access savings and credit by establishing Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs).
 
While international development efforts increasingly focus on the formalization of the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector, how to improve the sector’s access to formal financial services, including through microfinance, has not yet been fully explored. The results from the AFECCOR project are among some of the first documented experiences of introducing VSLAs into artisanal mining communities where they can positively contribute to cover basic financial needs.

Keywords: financial inclusion, artisanal gold mining, ASM, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Village Savings and Loan Associations, VSLA, microfinance

Topics: Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Political Economies Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2019

Ethnicity, Gender, and Oil: Comparative Dynamics in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Citation:

Vallejo, Ivette, Cristina Cielo, and Fernando García. 2019. "Ethnicity, Gender, and Oil: Comparative Dynamics in the Ecuadorian Amazon." Latin American Perspectives 46 (2): 182-98.

Authors: Ivette Vallejo, Cristina Cielo, Fernando García

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
During the past decade, Ecuador’s Alianza PAÍS socialist government, primarily under the leadership of Rafael Correa, was committed to moving toward a post-neoliberal economy and implementing a “New Amazon” free of poverty, with expanded infrastructure and services, as part of the redistribution of oil revenues. However, in sites of state development projects, gender hierarchies and territorial dispossession in fact became more acute. Analysis of two place-based indigenous political ecologies—one in the central Amazon, where the state licensed new oil blocks in Sapara territory to a Chinese company in 2016, and the other in the Kichwa community of Playas de Cuyabeno in the northern Amazon, where the state company PetroAmazonas has operated since the 1970s—shows how women have reconfigured their ethnic and gender identities in relation to oil companies and the state in the context of rising and falling oil prices and in doing so reinforced or challenged male leaders’ positions in the internal structures of their communities and organizations.
 
SPANISH ABSTRACT:
Durante la última década, el gobierno socialista de Alianza PAÍS de Ecuador, princi- palmente bajo el liderazgo de Rafael Correa, se comprometió a avanzar hacia una economía posneoliberal e implementar una “Nueva Amazonía” libre de pobreza, con infraestructura y servicios ampliados, como parte de la redistribución de los ingresos petroleros. Sin embargo, en los sitios de proyectos estatales de desarrollo, las jerarquías de género y el despojo territorial de hecho se hicieron más agudos. Análisis de dos ecologías políticas indígenas basadas en el lugar—una en la Amazonía central, donde el estado otorgó licen- cias de nuevos bloques petroleros en el territorio de Sapara a una compañía china en 2016, y la otra en la comunidad Kichwa de Playas de Cuyabeno, en el norte de la Amazonía, donde la compañía estatal PetroAmazonas ha operado desde la década de 1970—muestra cómo las mujeres han reconfigurado sus identidades étnicas y de género en relación con las compañías petroleras y el estado en el contexto del alza y la caída de los precios del petróleo y, al hacerlo, refuerzan o desafían las posiciones de los líderes masculinos en la estructura interna de sus comunidades y organizaciones.

Keywords: neoextractivism, petroleum, ethnic identities, gender, Amazonia

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Ethnicity, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Indigenous, Infrastructure, Political Economies Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Ecuador

Year: 2019

Digging for Rights: How Can International Human Rights Law Better Protect Indigenous Women from Extractive Industries?

Citation:

Morales, Sarah. 2019. "Digging for Rights: How Can International Human Rights Law Better Protect Indigenous Women from Extractive Industries?" Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 31 (1): 58-90.

Author: Sarah Morales

Abstract:

FRENCH ABSTRACT:
L’expansion des industries extractives dans les territoires des peuples autochtones a été et continue d’être un processus éprouvant pour les gouvernements, l’industrie et les peuples autochtones du monde entier. Bien que les avantages économiques liés au développement des ressources soient substantiels, on donne trop souvent priorité à ces considérations au lieu de voir les effets profonds et durables des répercussions pour les collectivités, sur le plan social et culturel, en particulier pour les nations autochtones. La recherche a démontré que ces répercussions sont aggravées quand les personnes se trouvent à la croisée de plusieurs collectivités, comme c’est le cas pour les femmes autochtones. Dans le présent article, on se demandera si les lois internationales concernant les droits de la personne peuvent ou non protéger efficacement les femmes et les filles autochtones contre les effets négatifs du développement de l’industrie extractive. En réfléchissant au droit à l’autodétermination, tel qu’il est présenté dans la Déclaration des Nations Unies sur les droits des peuples autochtones, l’auteure soutient qu’à notre époque d’extraction croissante, la meilleure façon pour faire en sorte que les lois internationales protègent les droits des femmes autochtones est de prévoir un mécanisme qui rendra opérationnelles les lois et les coutumes autochtones. Pour cela, il faut faire de la place aux femmes autochtones dans les processus de consultation afin qu’elles y partagent leur savoir et qu’elles puissent en influencer réellement le cours. La promotion des droits procéduraux des femmes autochtones est la meilleure façon d’assurer la protection de leurs droits substantiels corolaires.
 
ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
The expansion of extractive industries into the territories of Indigenous peoples has been, and continues to be, a challenging process for governments, industry, and Indigenous peoples all over the world. While the economic benefits of resource development are important, too often these considerations are emphasized at the expense of appreciating the deep and lasting social and cultural effects of these impacts on communities, in particular, Indigenous communities. Research has illustrated that these impacts are compounded when one considers those individuals at the intersection of these communities, such as Indigenous women. This article will examine whether or not international human rights law can effectively protect Indigenous women and girls from the negative effects of extractive industry development. By focusing on the right to self-determination, as captured by the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples, it argues that the most effective way international law can work to protect Indigenous women in this period of increased extractive development is by providing a mechanism through which Indigenous laws and practices can be operationalized. This means creating space during consultative processes for Indigenous women to share their knowledge and influence the process in a meaningful way. The promotion of the procedural rights of Indigenous women is the best way to ensure the protection of their correlating substantive rights.

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, International Law, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), International Organizations, Political Economies, Rights, Indigenous Rights

Year: 2019

A Rights‐Based Approach to Indigenous Women and Gender Inequities in Resource Development in Northern Canada

Citation:

Koutouki, Konstantia, Katherine Lofts, and Giselle Davidian. 2018. "A Rights‐Based Approach to Indigenous Women and Gender Inequities in Resource Development in Northern Canada." Review of European, Comparative and International Environmental Law 27 (1): 63-74.

Authors: Konstantia Koutouki, Katherine Lofts, Giselle Davidian

Abstract:

In recent years, there has been an influx of investment in the Arctic, particularly in relation to the extractive industries. Yet in spite of their economic potential, extractive industry projects come with considerable social and environmental risks for northern indigenous communities. Within these communities, the associated challenges of resource development are felt most acutely by women; however, there is a lack of research and analysis concerning the gendered dimension of resource development in northern Canada through the lens of indigenous women's human rights. This article proposes the adoption of a rights‐based approach to address this issue, suggesting that such an approach can provide a coherent framework for enhancing the inclusion and well‐being of indigenous women in resource development, helping to ensure that Canada meets its human rights and constitutional obligations while furthering its commitment to reconciliation with indigenous peoples.

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Indigenous, Political Economies, Rights, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Canada

Year: 2018

"People Are Trying to Be Modern": Food Insecurity and the Strategies of the Poor

Citation:

Leahy, Terry, and Debbie Jean Brown. 2016. “‘People Are Trying to Be Modern’: Food Insecurity and the Strategies of the Poor.” Forum for Development Studies 43 (3): 489-510.

Authors: Terry Leahy, Debbie Jean Brown

Abstract:

The failure of rural Africans to heed the message of development projects and improving agricultural practices is widely recognized as a problem in terms of food security and rural development. This study focuses on the situation in one locality of eastern Zambia and adopts a qualitative approach. By looking at local cultural issues a different understanding of the mechanisms of this failure may be attempted. We suggest that food provisioning is constructed in reference to an ideal of modernity in which subsistence production takes a particular (and gendered) relationship to the cash economy. The implication is that subsistence agriculture is conceived as ‘reproduction’ within capitalism rather than as a separate mode of production articulated with capitalism. This ideal of modernity and the associated utopia of food provisioning make it difficult for rural households in Zambia to see sustainable subsistence agriculture as any kind of a way forward. 

Keywords: Zambia, food security, subsistence, Gender, peasant

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Food Security, Gender, Households, Political Economies Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zambia

Year: 2016

What's to Come is More Complicated: Feminist Visions of Peace in Colombia

Citation:

Paarlberg-Kvam, Kate. 2019. "What's to Come is More Complicated: Femininst Visions of Peace in Colombia." International Feminist Journal of Politics 21 (2): 194-223.

Author: Kate Paarlberg-Kvam

Abstract:

The years following the Colombian Congress’ 2016 approval of peace accords with the country’s oldest and largest guerrilla army have brought into stark relief Cynthia Enloe’s assertion that “wars don’t simply end, and wars don’t end simply.” As Colombia and the international community grapple with the complexity of constructing a society at peace, it is essential to listen to Colombian feminists’ visions of what a true and lasting peace would look like. While the feminist gains evinced by the accords represent a significant step forward, my research with feminist peace networks during the negotiations points to a still broader vision of peace that has not yet been embodied by the accords or their implementation. I argue that the antimilitarist, antineoliberal and antipatriarchal peace envisioned by feminist activists is more comprehensive, more transformative and more stable than that contained in the accords, and offer predictions of how feminists might pursue their vision in the post-accords reality.

Keywords: Colombia, demilitarization, FARC-EP, feminism, peace negotitations

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, Peacebuilding, Peace Processes, Political Economies Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2019

First Casualties of the Green Economy - Risks and Losses for Low Income Women

Citation:

Tandon, Nidhi. 2012. “First Casualties of the Green Economy – Risks and Losses for Low Income Women.” Development 55 (3): 311–9.

Author: Nidhi Tandon

Abstract:

Nidhi Tandon argues that women are the first casualties to renewable energy. The current political/economic paradigm ensures that the interests of the global and export economies from the productive capacity of land and water are protected while small farming communities are not. She sees possibilities in the green economy only if it rests on the involvement and engagement of poor people.

Keywords: land rights, rural economy, poverty, value, ownership, ecosystems, challenges

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Women, Infrastructure, Energy, Political Economies, Rights, Land Rights

Year: 2012

The Monetized Economy Versus Care and the Environment: Degrowth Perspectives On Reconciling an Antagonism

Citation:

Dengler, Corinna, and Birte Strunk. 2018. “The Monetized Economy Versus Care and the Environment: Degrowth Perspectives on Reconciling an Antagonism.” Feminist Economics 24 (3): 160–83. 

Authors: Corinna Dengler, Birte Strunk

Abstract:

This paper addresses the question of how the current growth paradigm perpetuates existing gender and environmental injustices and investigates whether these can be mitigated through a degrowth work-sharing proposal. It uses an adapted framework of the “ICE model” to illustrate how ecological processes and caring activities are structurally devalued by the monetized economy in a growth paradigm. On the one hand, this paradigm perpetuates gender injustices by reinforcing dualisms and devaluing care. On the other hand, environmental injustices are perpetuated since “green growth” does not succeed in dematerializing production processes. In its critique of the growth imperative, degrowth not only promotes the alleviation of environmental injustices but also calls for a recentering of society around care. This paper concludes that, if designed in a gender-sensitive way, a degrowth work-sharing proposal as part of a broader value transformation has the potential to address both gender and environmental injustices.

Keywords: degrowth, gender inequality, sustainability, work sharing, gender working time equality, caring economy

Topics: Economies, Care Economies, Environment, Climate Change, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Livelihoods, Political Economies

Year: 2018

Solutions to the Crisis? The Green New Deal, Degrowth, and the Solidarity Economy: Alternatives to the Capitalist Growth Economy from an Ecofeminist Economics Perspective

Citation:

Bauhardt, Christine. 2014. “Solutions to the Crisis? The Green New Deal, Degrowth, and the Solidarity Economy: Alternatives to the Capitalist Growth Economy from an Ecofeminist Economics Perspective.” Ecological Economics 102 (June): 60–8.

Author: Christine Bauhardt

Abstract:

This article deals with three approaches conceived as alternative approaches to the capitalist growth economy: the Green New Deal, Degrowth, and the Solidarity Economy. Ecofeminist economics has much to offer to each of these approaches, but these contributions remain, as of yet, unrealized. The Green New Deal largely represents the green economy, which holds economic success as contingent upon the ecological restructuring of industrial production. The degrowth approach more fundamentally raises questions concerning the relationship between material prosperity and individual and social well-being. The principles of the solidarity economy involve the immediate implementation of the principles of self-determination and cooperation. None of these approaches takes into account the claims of ecofeminist economics; and none of them clearly view gender equity as essential to economic change. The three approaches are, however, deeply gendered in the sense that they are implicitly based on assumptions concerning women's labor in the sphere of social reproduction. This article demonstrates how each approach can be improved upon by the integration of ecofeminist economic principles in order to achieve economic change that also meets claims for gender equity.

Keywords: ecofeminist ecological economics, degrowth, care economy, gender equity, social reproduction

Topics: Economies, Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Gender, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Political Economies

Year: 2014

Conceptualizing Subsistence as a Response to Capitalist Violence against African Indigenous Women

Citation:

Ahmed, Fathima. 2018. “Conceptualizing Subsistence as a Response to Capitalist Violence against African Indigenous Women.” Agenda 32 (4): 22-31.

Author: Fathima Ahmed

Abstract:

Africa, a continent whose economy is constrained by state and capital, fails to meet the basic needs of the population amidst worsening inequalities and violence. Subsistence producers globally, including indigenous small-scale farmers, pastoralists and hunter gathers, meet the basic needs for the majority. Two-thirds of these producers are women who work autonomously of the state and the market using relations of commoning. These are systems of sharing, collective labour and equal access to and care over nature. ‘Commoning’ is important to indigenous livelihoods, identity and survival, reflecting a strong relationship with the land. Resource-rich indigenous lands are as crucial to capitalist production as they are to anti-capitalist alternatives found in subsistence, and to life itself. African indigenous claims represent grassroots mobilisation for cultural self-determination in the wake of recent enclosures. Enclosures are turning commons into militarised zones, threatening the existence of indigenous peoples. These zones reflect a deliberate cultural packaging of misogynistic violence. Women are an important socio-ecological medium through which corporate-state violence impacts indigenous lives, livelihoods and bodies. As their reproduction and care responsibilities are land-dependent, ecological destruction harms women first. Using indigenous knowledge and practices, women are at the forefront of defending relationality with the land from capitalist destruction. They symbolise both an alternative and a threat to capitalism. As this article demonstrates, violence on the land and violence on women’s bodies are linked. Hence, feminist Lierre Keith contends that “militarism is a feminist issue, rape an environmental issue, and environmental destruction a peace issue” (Rebecca Weiss, ‘Sexism in the Olympics? You shouldn’t be surprised’, Patheos Catholic: Suspended in Her Jar, August 15, 2016). This activist article, using indigenous and anti-capitalist transnational feminism, highlights women’s agency and knowledge in providing life-centered and peaceful alternatives to the socio-ecological crisis across the continent, through a subsistence perspective.

Keywords: subsistence, indigenous women, commons, relationality, anti-capitalism

Topics: Economies, Environment, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Livelihoods, Political Economies, Rights, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa

Year: 2018

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