Study shows link between resource extraction industries, domestic abuse

 An increase in domestic and sexual violence against women is among the troubling social impacts of resource extraction industries, according to a B.C. victims' services association behind a new $40,000 initiative aimed at drawing awareness to the issue.

Tracy Porteous, executive director of the Ending Violence Association of B.C. (EVA BC), pointed to recent Canadian and international research showing that factors such as a largely transient and male work force, increases in drug and other substance use and income disparity between sexes associated with such industries contribute to an increase in violence against women.

In response, EVA BC is working to produce a training video aimed at new employees involved in resource extraction, focusing on identifying the risks and responding appropriately. The B.C. government and energy producer Encana Corporation will contribute $20,000 each to fund its production.

"It's important to be said that the vast majority of men who work in resource extraction don't commit violence," Ms. Porteous said. "It's those people that we want to tap into, so they can speak to the people who are struggling."

Clarice Eckford, project co-ordinator at Fort St. John Women's Resource Society, found that in that northeastern B.C. boomtown, the average income for men in 2006 was $56,000 - $12,000 more than the national average - due largely to new jobs in construction, oil and gas, transportation and communication and mining. By contrast, the average income for women in Fort St. John that year was just $27,000. This income disparity results in women becoming financially dependent on their partners, Ms. Porteous said.

Ms. Eckford also found that nearly one-third of men in Fort St. John reported having "no fixed workplace address" in 2005, which was double the national average.

Meanwhile, towns with populations of less than 20,000, such as Fort St. John and Kitimat, do not meet the threshold to have provincially funded community-based victim assistance programs, Ms. Porteous said.

"These are key programs that help [victims] navigate a complex set of systems [such as] child protection, police, corrections, social assistance and social housing," which all have different policies and procedures, she said.

Richard Dunn, vice-president of government relations Canada at Encana Corp., said the video is a result of Encana's involvement as a founding partner in the Be More Than a Bystander campaign, an anti-violence initiative by EVA BC and the B.C. Lions football club.

"Taking this same message into our field operations aligns with our commitment to ensuring a safe, respectful workplace and is a proactive step to address this difficult issue which exists in every community," Mr. Dunn said in a statement.

Stephanie Cadieux, B.C.'s minister of children and family development, said the training initiative will help raise awareness of the effects of domestic violence, which are not limited to the home.

Ms. Porteous said the goal is to have the video, which is currently being storyboarded and is expected to film later this summer, available at every resource-extraction work site. It will also be distributed through EVA BC's network of 240 anti-violence programs.

In 2008, EVA BC launched a training program targeted at men in the forestry and mining sectors called Renewing Resources: Understanding the Effects of Domestic Violence on the Workplace.

you can also visit http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/mining-forestry-tied-to-domestic-violence/article19735561/#dashboard/follows/

Social Services in Mining Areas!

Social Services in Mining Area! How is it in your area?

Meet the Two Leaders of Tanzania Women Miners Association

Martha Bitwale: The  former  Chairperson of Tanzania Women Miners Association:

She is a long time activist of rights of Women miners.  Her passion on women's rights and the struggles to organize women in mining to advance in the mining sector is known among most women miners in Tanzania. She is a witness of the transformation in mining sector and how it accommodates women in Tanzania. Her story as a woman miner, leader, a mother, an activist, business woman and her passion to engage and organize other women in the sector has contributed a lot to the women in mining struggles today. She is calling for the "Re-Focus" on the priorities of women in Mining Tanzania.

Eunice Negele: The Chairperson of Tanzania  Women Miners Association

She is woman miner based in Tanga Region, the activist, a mother  and  Leader. She works with more than 400 women in 11 districts of Tanzania to advocate for the rights of women miners and women living in mining areas.

The election for the new chairperson will be held this year. TAWOMA needs a feminist leader, who holds the deepest of values for justice and equality. This leader will need to work with women in two levels; supporting  women miners to build self consciousness and self esteem so that they understand and stay  on top of their challenging context (2) Linking women miners and women in mining with different resources, networks, struggles and movement so that they effect change.

Who will be the next?

Let Ban Ki-moon know you want human rights in the Sustainable Development Goals

The Mining Working Group at the UN and the Blue Planet Project have spearheaded a recent sign-on letter on the need for the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals to include an explicit mention of the need to guarantee the human right to water and sanitation. The letter has garnered more than 300 sign-ons – we thank you for your support and for your advocacy efforts to join this important fight.

Despite our call, the latest “zero draft” of the SDGs text (30 June, 2014) has failed to include explicit mention of the human right to water and sanitation. Time is running out to influence the Open Working Group, as its 13^th and last official session will be held July 14-18, with informals preceding it starting July 9. It is therefore essential that we unite in one last push to include the human rights language in the OWG report, particularly around the human right to water and sanitation.
As a final step, we encourage you and your organizations to write to the office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, through the online petition available [English] [Spanish]. In this pivotal moment, we must show the UN that we have not given up on human rights in the SDGs, and that they must ensure the inclusion of this language to ensure that the SDGS, and the post-2015 agenda, truly deliver for people’s human rights and the sanctity of our planet.

Thank you for your support.

Click the link below to sign the petition

http://www.blueplanetproject.net/index.php/let-ban-ki-moon-know-you-want-human-rights-in-the-sdgs/

We Are Not ANGRY Enough!

I am a woman, and i am a feminist! i work with women  from mining communities in Tanzania and i am angry. In the past few days i have been assessing myself if i am angry enough to effect change, i do not have a clear answer yet... i am still reflecting.

I have been talking with women i work with about different issues in mining sector in Tanzania, and my observation is... Women are not angry enough.  Most of them would say "The state is very powerful and we cannot change, or the mining companies have BIG money and any other loads of excuses, but if we were angry, very angry, and very constructively angry, we would look forwad and continue with questioning  the POWER.

The power that give the same mining corporations our resources and remain silent when they abuse us.  The power that use our money, our bodies, our resources, our children, our families and manipulate our economy for their own benefit.

We are POLITELY angry, and being politely angry will not bring the change we want.We need to re- direct our anger towards the system. for the cause we have been believing in. JUSTICE and EQUALITY. We have done our fair share of protecting our land, and natural resources, and environment, and our bodies, and our economy and so many more you can name the rest,  but we need to do more, go further than looking at our being women or men but shaming those who stand on our way!

Lets be angry enough to change what is not right!