Women

Citation:

Sovacool, Benjamin K. 2021. “When Subterranean Slavery Supports Sustainability Transitions? Power, Patriarchy, and Child Labor in Artisanal Congolese Cobalt Mining.” The Extractive Industries and Society 8 (1): 271–93.

Author: Benjamin K. Sovacool

Abstract:

Through the critical lenses of “modern slavery,” “dispossession,” and “gendering,” this study examines the contours of power, patriarchy, and child labor in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). There, a veritable mining boom for cobalt is underway, driven by rising global demand for batteries and other modern digital devices needed for future sustainability transitions. Based on extensive and original field research in the DRC—including 23 semi-structured expert interviews with a purposive sample, 48 semi-structured community interviews with ASM miners, traders, and community mem­ bers, and site visits to 17 artisanal mines, processing centers, and trading depots—this study asks: What power relations does ASM cobalt mining embed? What are its effects on patriarchy and gender relations? Critically, what is the extent and severity of child labor? It documents the exploitation of ASM miners by the government, the police, and even at times other mining actors such as traders or local communities. It reveals the often invisible gendered nature of mining, showing how many vulnerabilities—in terms of work, status, social norms, and sexual abuse and prostitution—fall disproportionately on women and girls. It lastly reveals sobering patterns of child labor and abuse, again at times by the government or police, but other times by families or mining communities themselves. These factors can at times make cobalt mining a modern form of slavery and a catalyst for social, economic, and even regional dispossession. However, rather than despair, the study also draws from its empirical data to showcase how mining can in selected situations empower. It also proposes a concerted mix of policy reforms aimed the Congolese government (at all scales, including local and national); suppliers and enduser companies for cobalt; and international governments and trading bodies. In doing so, the study humanizes the plight of Congolese cobalt artisanal miners, reveals the power relations associated with the recent mining boom, and also proposes pathways for positive change.

Keywords: artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Copper, Cobalt, modern slavery, disposession

Topics: Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Girls, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Governance, Multi-National Corporations, Sexual Violence Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2021

Citation:

Sinclair, Lian. 2021. “Beyond Victimisation: Gendered Legacies of Mining, Participation, and Resistance.” The Extractive Industries and Society (January): 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2021.01.005.

Author: Lian Sinclair

Abstract:

Mining developments, corporate-community conflict, and participatory community development programs can have diverse gendered impacts on people affected by mining. Thus, changing gendered relations are amongst the social, economic, and political legacies of mining. Despite growing literature on the gendered impacts of mining, little explains how and why particular developments produce divergent legacies. This paper builds on feminist understandings of primitive accumulation and social reproduction theory to understand the rapid economic, social and political change that reconfigures gendered relations between and within groups of men and women. Drawing on research across three case studies in Indonesia, I argue that while mining developments can disproportionately disadvantage women, resistance work and participation in corporate social responsibility programs (CSR) may be empowering. This paper thus moves beyond the ‘women-as-victims’ approach to uncover the social, economic, and political foundations of inequality that may be disrupted or reinforced by mining, participation and resistance. The implications of this for mining governance policy, CSR and NGOs are that gendered legacies of mining depend on how resistance or participation create opportunities to overcome structural inequalities exacerbated by mining.

Keywords: gender, Indonesia, political participation, resistance, social reproduction theory

Topics: Extractive Industries, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Multi-National Corporations Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Indonesia

Year: 2021

Citation:

Shikuku, Caroline Khasoha, Edward Mburugu, Dr. Salim Nungari, and Dr. Joseph Kabiru. 2020. “Gender Equality in the Oil Mining Industry: A Case of Lokichar in Turkana Kenya.” IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science 25 (1): 48-61.

Authors: Caroline Khasoha Shikuku, Edward Mburugu, Dr. Salim Nungari, Dr. Joseph Kabiru

Abstract:

It is increasingly been accepted by various stakeholders in Kenya that women involvement in the Extractive industry (E.I) will speed up economic growth. One of the centerpiece of Sustainable Development Goals has been to achieve Gender Equality by empowering women and encouraging their participation in different development ventures. The general objective of this paper therefore was to establish the nature of hiring practices in the EI in relation to gender equality in Kenya. The paper capitalizes on the conflict theory using a feministic approach, gender relations theory and diffusion of innovation theory. Desk review and various studies done in Kenya on EI will inform this paper while anchoring on a recent study by the authors of this paper whose methodology is described later on this paper. The findings shows that there was a difference in hiring men and women and that gender roles have been transformed as a result of oil mining in Lokichar. The paper will inform stakeholders (government, oil companies) to craft policy responses to challenges that may likely emerge from E.I in Kenya. The paper recommends goodwill in implementing gender policies, monitoring and evaluation and quality assurance of policies set on the hiring practices.

Keywords: extractive industry, gender mainstreaming, Sustainable Development Goals, affirmative action, gender equality

Topics: Economies, Extractive Industries, Feminisms, Gender, Gender Roles, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2020

Citation:

Sesele, Kentse, Lochner Marais, Deidre van Rooyen, and Jan Cloete. 2021. “Mine Decline and Women: Reflections from the Free State Goldfields.” The Extractive Industries and Society 8 (1): 211–19. 

Authors: Kentse Sesele, Lochner Marais, Deidre van Rooyen, Jan Cloete

Abstract:

The formal mining industry has marginalised women and created masculine and patriarchal societies. But research on the industry’s effect on women is minimal and mostly atheoretical. The finite nature of mining and its volatility makes mining societies vulnerable. The gender issue is under-recognised, particularly the way mine closure affects women. Most of the mine closure research focuses on the mines’ environmental liabilities. This paper assesses African women’s experience of mine decline and closure in South Africa’s Free State Goldfields. The transition to democracy brought equal economic and political rights (formal equality) to African women in 1994, but mine decline has reinforced gender inequalities since the early 1990s. Substantive equality remains elusive. Women were historically excluded from work in the mining industry and very few were employed in the formal mining sector. Closure of a mine makes it even more difficult for them to participate. It reinforces masculine dominance and women’s household roles while also placing pressure on them to support their households financially.

Keywords: mining, domestic labour, gender inequality

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

Year: 2021

Citation:

Rutherford, Blair, and Laila Chemane-Chilemba. 2020. “The Governance of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Manica District, Mozambique: Implications for Women’s Livelihoods.” Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines 54 (1): 139–56. 

Authors: Blair Rutherford, Laila Chemane-Chilemba

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
The mining sector in Mozambique, as in many parts of Africa, is viewed as a masculine industry; however, when it comes to artisanal and smallscale mining women play a very important role that in most cases is neglected or unknown. We examine both gendered practices and authority relations in different types of gold mining (alluvial and reef), their changes, and how this interacts with the current government initiative of having artisanal miners organize themselves in registered associations. Specifically, in the gold mines in Manica district, there is a major effort from the Mozambican government to organize the miners in associations. The process is bringing new dynamics to the activity for both women and men in terms of decision-making, access and opportunities, thus creating an impact for the livelihoods of both groups.

FRENCH ABSTRACT:
De même que dans beaucoup d’autres pays d’Afrique, le secteur minier au Mozambique est perçu comme une industrie masculine; cependant, en matière d’exploitation minière artisanale à petite échelle, les femmes jouent un rôle important qui, dans la plupart des cas, est négligé ou inconnu. Nous examinons à la fois les pratiques genrées et les relations d’autorité dans différents types d’exploitation de l’or (alluvionnaire et récifale), leurs modifications, et comment elles interagissent avec l’initiative gouvernementale actuelle qui pousse les mineurs artisanaux à s’organiser dans des associations déclarées. Plus précisément, dans les mines d’or du district de Manica, le gouvernement mozambicain fait un effort considérable pour que les mineurs s’organisent en associations. Ce processus apporte une nouvelle dynamique à l’activité, pour les femmes comme pour les hommes, en matière de prise de décision, d’accès et d’opportunités, créant ainsi un impact sur les moyens de subsistance des deux groupes.

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

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Women, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Mozambique

Year: 2020

Citation:

Romano, Rossana Barragán, and Leda Papastefanaki. 2020. “Women and Gender in the Mines: Challenging Masculinity Through History: An Introduction.” International Review of Social History 65 (2): 191–230. 

Authors: Rossana Barragán Romano, Leda Papastefanaki

Abstract:

The role of women as mineworkers and as household workers has been erased. Here, we challenge the masculinity associated with the mines, taking a longer-term and a global labour history perspective. We foreground the importance of women as mineworkers in different parts of the world since the early modern period and analyse the changes introduced in coal mining in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the masculinization and mechanization, and the growing importance of women in contemporary artisanal and small-scale mining. The effect of protective laws and the exclusion of women from underground tasks was to restrict women's work more to the household, which played a pivotal role in mining communities but is insufficiently recognized. This process of “de-labourization” of women's work was closely connected with the distinction between productive and unproductive labour. This introductory article therefore centres on the important work carried out in the household by women and children. Finally, we present the three articles in this Special Theme and discuss how each of them is in dialogue with the topics addressed here. Many thanks also to Marie-José Spreeuwenberg for her invaluable engagement.

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Roles, Masculinity/ies, Women

Year: 2020

Citation:

Pugliese, Francesca. 2020. “Mining Companies and Gender(Ed) Policies: The Women of the Congolese Copperbelt, Past and Present.” The Extractive Industries and Society (August). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2020.08.006.

Author: Francesca Pugliese

Abstract:

Mining companies of the past and present have promoted specific roles for men and women through their management practices. In DR Congo, first colonial and then state-owned companies naturalised the role of men as employees and breadwinners. At the same time, women were assigned responsibility for reproduction and were understood as being financially dependent on men’s salary, either that of their fathers or husbands. By contrast, some LSM (large-scale mining) companies today support gender equality programmes, mainly to improve their corporate reputation. Drawing on the literature on women in the industrial extractive sector elsewhere in the world, I show how these discourses and processes continue to produce Congolese Copperbelt mines as masculine spaces at different levels. I then move to the ethnographic component of the paper by arguing that new investors’ gender practices and equality policies are not easily implemented in the area. On the con­ trary, they have to confront a region marked by the paternalistic social policies of mining companies in the past, which have entrenched a certain gender hegemony. Through the biographies of different women involved in the industrial mining sector past and present, I show the effects of mining companies’ policies on gender roles in Haut-Katanga Province.

Keywords: women in mining, gendered policies, gender equality, Congolese Copperbelt

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Roles, Masculinity/ies, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Patriarchy, Multi-National Corporations Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2020

Citation:

Nsanzimana, Bernard, Aline Providence Nkundibiza, and Patricie Mwambarangwe. 2020. “Promoting Gender Equality in the Rwandan ASM: Efforts and Obstacles.” Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des éTudes Africaines 54 (1): 119–38. 

Authors: Bernard Nsanzimana, Aline Providence Nkundibiza, Patricie Mwambarangwe

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
Despite Rwanda getting high scores in international rankings for steps made in providing an enabling business environment, reducing maternal mortality, increasing the number of women in politics and other efforts relating to the promotion of gender equality in various activity sectors, the Rwandan mining sector is still male-dominated. Only 16% of its workforce is women whereas the 2009 mining policy had a target to increase the number of women in the mining industry to 20–30% of the workforce by the beginning of 2013. This article argues that various efforts were engaged by mining and gender stakeholders to promote gender equality in mining, though obstacles persist to this purpose. The efforts include the availability of a friendly legal and policy framework and willing stakeholders. The obstacles are centred on the nature of mining activities, gender norms, and taboos associated with the historical dominance of men in mining. In any case, the effective implementation of available policies and related instruments, upon the elaboration of strong tools and strategies, can lead to complete gender equality in the Rwandan mining industry.

FRENCH ABSTRACT:
Bien que le Rwanda ait obtenu des scores élevés dans les classements internationaux en raison de mesures prises pour créer un environnement favorable aux entreprises, réduire la mortalité maternelle, augmenter le nombre de femmes en politique, et d’autres efforts relatifs à la promotion de l’égalité entre les sexes dans divers secteurs d’activité, le secteur minier du pays est encore dominé par les hommes. Seulement 16 % de femmes composent la main d’oeuvre de ce secteur, alors que la politique minière de 2009 visait à atteindre 20 à 30 % de femmes dans l’industrie minière au début de l’année 2013. Cet article soutient que divers efforts ont été déployés par les parties prenantes du secteur minier et de l’égalité des sexes pour promouvoir l’égalité des sexes dans le secteur minier, bien que des obstacles persistent à cet effet. Les efforts comprennent la disponibilité d’un cadre juridique et politique favorable et des parties prenantes consentantes. Les obstacles sont centrés sur la nature des activités minières, les normes de genre et les tabous associés à la domination historique du secteur minier par les hommes. En tout état de cause, la mise en oeuvre effective des politiques disponibles et des instruments connexes, sur l’élaboration d’outils et de stratégies solides, peut conduire à l’égalité complète entre les sexes dans l’industrie minière rwandaise.

Keywords: gender equality, ASM, Rwandan mining sector, efforts, obstacles, égalité entre les sexes, EMAPE, secteur minier rwandais

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Roles, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2020

Citation:

Murphy, Kathleen, Lola Strand, Linda Theron, and Michael Ungar. 2021. “‘I Just Gotta Have Tough Skin’: Women’s Experiences Working in the Oil and Gas Industry in Canada.” The Extractive Industries and Society 8 (2).

Authors: Kathleen Murphy, Lola Strand, Linda Theron, Michael Ungar

Abstract:

Women remain vastly underrepresented in the oil and gas workforce. As such, they are subject to gender-based discrimination and harassment, perpetuated by a hyper masculine work culture, yet little is known about their experiences working on the front lines. Guided by feminist interpretive inquiry, the purpose of this research was to understand the experiences of young women in blue collar and administrative positions within the oil and gas industry, in a small Canadian town. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 women ages 18–30 between February 2018 and March 2019. Data were analyzed using an inductive thematic content analysis, and findings were validated by a Local Advisory Committee. Participating women experienced gender-based discrimination and harassment. Still, many women enjoyed their work, took pride in defying gender-based expectations, and tended to persevere by having ‘tough skin’. Women’s coping mechanisms tended to reinforce the masculine culture that perpetuates the gender-based challenges they face. Findings suggest that industry practices must adapt to create a safe and inclusive workplace.

Keywords: women in industry, gender norms, gender equity, oil and gas workforce, inclusive workplace

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Roles, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Masculinism Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Canada

Year: 2021

Citation:

Munir, Laine. 2020. “Gender Roles in Nigeria’s Non-Violent Oil Resistance Movement.” Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des éTudes Africaines 55 (1): 79–97.

Author: Laine Munir

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
Since the 1980s, Nigerians have engaged in non-violent protests against oil exploitation polluting their lands. This qualitative case study asks why Niger Delta women came to engage in seemingly separate, all-female protests starting in 2002, mobilizing in a long-standing resistance previously led by men. Using grounded theory methods, this multi-site ethnography draws on one-on-one interviews, participant observations, and university and non-governmental organization archival data. It finds that although women were indeed aggrieved by oil, their protests from 2002 to 2012 did not emerge autonomously from those of men, as described in scholarship elsewhere. Rather, these findings indicate that male elites may have had a role in initiating women’s collective action in response to their own failed prior negotiations, to increase the number of protesters, and to bolster men’s dialogue. This study provides a nuanced corrective to the Niger Delta narrative and expands our understanding of gender dynamics in social movements.

FRENCH ABSTRACT:
Depuis les années 80, les nigérians se sont engagés dans des protestations non-violentes contre l’exploitation pétrolière qui pollue leurs terres. Cette étude de cas qualitative examine pourquoi les femmes du delta du Niger en sont venues, à partir de 2002, à s’engager dans des protestations apparemment distinctes, entièrement féminines, en se mobilisant dans une résistance de longue date menée par des hommes auparavant. Fondée sur des méthodes de théorie ancrée, cette ethnographie multi-sites s’appuie sur des entretiens individuels, des observations participantes et des données d’archives universitaires et d’organisations non-gouvernementales. Elle révèle que si les femmes ont effectivement été lésées par l’exploitation pétrolière, leurs protestations de 2002 à 2012 n’ont pas émergé de celles des hommes de manière autonome, comme l’a décrit une autre étude. Ces résultats indiquent plutôt que les élites masculines ont peutêtre joué un rôle dans le lancement de l’action collective des femmes, en réaction à l’échec de leurs propres négociations préalables, pour augmenter le nombre de manifestants et renforcer le dialogue entre hommes. Cette étude apporte une correction nuancée au récit du delta du Niger et élargit notre compréhension de la dynamique des genres dans les mouvements sociaux.

Keywords: women, protest, Nigeria, environmental conflict, femmes, protestation, conflit environnemental, théorie ancrée, Grounded Theory

Topics: Conflict, Environment, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Nonviolence Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Nigeria

Year: 2020