The (In)Visibility of Women and Mining

The Gendering of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Sub-Saharan Africa

Blair Rutherford, Doris Buss, Blair Rutherford, Doris Buss

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781000726152
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender & The Law
• Index: Social Sciences

The chapters in this book provide in- depth insight into the gender norms and contexts in which women work in the expanding informal mining sector in sub- Saharan Africa.

Collectively, the research here provides a nuanced account of women's livelihood strategies in artisanal and small- scale mining (ASM, as its generally known) in ways that challenge images of women— as either victimized by mining or empowered by mining livelihoods, or both— that tend to dominate the growing array of donor and policy interventions in this sector. The authors come from different disciplinary traditions— anthropology, economics, political science, mining engineering, law— but all place questions of gendered power front and centre in their analyses of sociocultural, institutional, economic and political relationships, practices and arrangements within which women navigate their mining livelihoods. The physical or representational presence (and sometimes absence) of women in ASM sites is a linking theme, with the chapters exploring different dimensions of mining and gender— the gendered divisions of labour, migration, land ownership, cultural norms, and gendered authority relations— but also how 'women' materialize and are seen and unseen in the growing array of transnational interventions in this sector.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Canadian Journal of African Studies.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• 1 Gendering women’s livelihoods in artisanal and small-scale mining: an introduction
• 2 A social relations of gender analysis of artisanal and small-scale mining in Africa’s Great Lakes Region
• 3 Gendered livelihoods in the artisanal mining sector in the Great Lakes Region
• 4 Impact de l’exploitation minière artisanale de l’or sur la vie des femmes dans les foyers miniers artisanaux, en territoires de Bisengo et de Mosolo: stratégies en matière d’égalité entre les sexes
• 5 Necessity or choice: women’s migration to artisanal mining regions in eastern DRC
• 6 Licensing of artisanal mining on private land in Uganda: social and economic implications for female spouses and women entrepreneurs
• 7 Promoting gender equality in the Rwandan ASM: efforts and obstacles
• 8 The governance of artisanal and small-scale mining in Manica District, Mozambique: implications for women’s livelihoods
• 9 Gendered “choices” in Sierra Leone: women in artisanal mining in Tonkolili District
• 10 “Remember the women of Osiri”: women and gender in artisanal and small-scale mining in Migori County, Kenya
• Afterword
• Index