The Challenge of Women in Mining

 

Women constitute about 25% of the Small Scale mining population according to International Labor Organization (ILO) and other studies. This is due to the nature of the sub-sector becoming a livelihood option for over 1 million Tanzanians as of 1990s as agricultural and pastoralist economies struggled to pick up.

Women miners face the challenge of exclusion in the male dominated mining sector due to policy practice challenges that states to encourage women to participate in mining activities without showing a clear strategy on how to empower them. These has been an obstacle in promoting and graduating women into higher ranks within the socio-economic  ladder.  Small scale women miners have had little opportunities to benefit from back and forward linkages  as well as having weak women institutions. This has been a limitation in women miners’ progression and rise into key positions in all public and private institutions working around mining.                                                                                                    

Extension services under the Ministry of Energy and Minerals has been ineffective in addressing this gap due to limited financial allocation and absence of expertise within the regulatory bodies. No major efforts have been put in strengthening small- scale women miners’ engagement in mining sector.This resulting to un equal distribution of mineral resources in and around mining communities which leads in becoming more poorer and  increases the disproportion between the have  and the have not.  it's a curse because  mineral wealth rather than benefiting all equally seems as of discriminating in nature.

With this and other hundreds of challenges facing women participating directly in mining sector, there are more thousands of challenges facing women living in and around mining areas. Industrial mining owned by foreign companies bring in both social, economical, political and cultural challenges. While foreign companies profiteering over resource in from our land, women are left with diseases, hunger, poor social services and the list goes on. This is the cost of revenue calculation at  expense of women and children lives.

Defending Our Land: Defending Our Livelihood!

This green land is in Sambaru and Londoni villages in Singida region. It is a home of a nomadic  tribe called Mang'ati. They are  depending on land for grazing their animals and farming. Young girls and boys are responsible for grazing animals and they are depending on this land. Women collect firewood from this land for domestic use. Maize, millet, sweet potatoes, beans, green vegetables, onions and rice grow on this land once sometimes twice a year. But underneath it, there is an enormous deposit of gold.

This land is now owned by Shanta Mining Company. Production have not started yet. The company is putting up structures and fencing the land. There are areas within the land where people are not allowed to access. It is guarded by state police paid by both the state and mining company.

There is no much hope among communities of benefiting from this project. They already know that they will not be employed by the company or provide services and goods to the company. Women are much more devastated. They will loose their source of  food, energy and water. The current fresh air  will be polluted by dust and their children and their families will be sick. HIV prevalence will increase due to the immigration and their families may disrupt.

In this community, men own cattle. They will loose the land for grazing and their economy will be shaken. They are still wondering how they are going to provide for their families once their land is gone. This areas will turn into desert in a couple of years, taking away  livelihood of more than 10,000 people. 

Security Questions in mining Areas

Security issues have been discussed several times and mostly under the questions of human rights abuse. In Tanzania, being Artisanal and Small scale mining settlements or in areas where there are Large Scale mining, the question of security and protection of communities and especially women is unanswered.In ASM settlements, women face every kind of abuse, from domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, economic violence etc from both people they know and people they do not know.

The security questions extends to economic rights in terms of property ownership and disposal. For example, More than 80% of communities in Sambaru ad Lononi villages in Singida region depend on farming for food and other needs.  Taking their land away for mining purposes does not only take away their food security but also their settlements and other services. The group which is affected more are women because they are providers of services and livelihood in their commuities.

Large scale mining comes with a lot of challenges to women  and communities in general. It is characterized by securitization (and sometimes by state police) and restriction of land use. People from outside the communities are   employed as security guards and are instructed to kill anyone who crosses the land. There are evidence of deaths and abuses by these company security guards, but they are  addressed as incidences. The question would be addressing securitization of mining companies (with state police) and safety of communities.

Women Miners Leadership Development: Round 1

 Learning is Fun-Tastic - Women Learning Conversation skills by picture drawing

 Everybody is a facilitator; Mjomba Hussein presenting

 Bahati Msuya: One of the participants of Women Miners Leadership Development

 Group Photo: Women Miners Leadership Development Round 1

Alando and Lulu: Participant and Facilitator

Women In Mining Leadership Development; The story So far (2): The Incentive for Organizing.

 Women Group meeting  In Londoni Singida

Marietha addressing the group

Women come together for different reasons, in most cases in Tanzania, women organize through self help groups,  for supporting each other financially. Ready cash in form of merry-go-round is  one of the  incentive to organize. In rare cases, women self organize for discussing issues that affect women such as domestic violence, health, services, policy, laws etc. After organizing for financial support, in most cases the groups formalizes into Serving And Credit Schemes. The formalization   lives behind women who cannot “formally” meet the criteria for Credit, and sometimes “uneducated” as it becomes sophisticated with systems and rules. The spirit of organizing goes down and replaced by money and power, with technical people coming in.

In case of Singida where eight women participated in the Leadership Development course organized by HakiMadini, women have found a new incentive for organizing. At first, they started as a servings and credit group, it started formalizing and they learned that most women were left behind. One woman named Marietha re-organized the group and facilitated women in identifying the reason for coming together apart from money. They identified violence against women in mining areas as a major challenge that hinders them to participate fully in economic activities. “It comes in different forms, women are facing domestic violence in their homes, and sexual harassment in public and physical and emotional violence while at work in mining sites  Its like we do not have a safe place to be. There is no respect for women because there is no defined values as community. Most people are migrants and everybody is here temporarily…” Says Marietha. That is a reason why women came together to prevent and respond to women human rights abuses in the mining area of Londoni and Sambaru in Singida.

Eleven women from the initial group formed and raised an issue, that they needed a new incentive. They started mobilizing other women, mostly by identifying those who have faced violence. They helped other women see the connection between violence and women poverty by pointing out specific examples. Then they invited them to join their monthly discussion on state of violence in mining area and strategies for prevention and response. In these meetings women have chance to share stories and experiences and look at violence against women in new perspective. They intend to grow together as a group, supporting each other emotionally while the Servings and credit schemes support those who need money for their business. 

It’s a process and it takes small steps!