Structural Transformation, Extractive Industries and Gender Equality

Citation:

Baum, Sarah, and Anja Benshaul-Tolonen. 2019. "Structural Transformation, Extractive Industries and Gender Equality." SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3464290.

Authors: Sarah Baum, Anja Benshaul-Tolonen

Abstract:

What is the impact of the highest value export industry in low and middle income countries—the extractive industries (oil, gas and mining)—on gender equality? Resource dependent countries have greater gender inequality, lower education levels and more patriarchal norms after taking GDP per capita into account. A review of the empirical literature shows that extractive industries have highly gender-specific effects, where the economic impacts such as job creation interacts with gender norms, e.g. gender segregation in labor markets, to determine labor and marriage markets, fertility and violence. Health—including sexual, reproductive and infant health—is determined by environmental factors, such as pollution, counteracted by economic opportunities. Program evaluation research ought to explore how to strengthen the beneficial effects while mitigating the undesirable.

Topics: Economies, Environment, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Equality/Inequality, Health, Reproductive Health, Livelihoods, Violence

Year: 2019