Female Faces in Informal ‘Spaces’: Women and Artisanal and Small-scale Mining in sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

This paper critically examines how women employed in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) – low-tech mineral extraction and processing – in sub-Saharan Africa could be affected by moves made to formalize and support their activities under the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), ‘Africa’s own response to tackling the paradox of great mineral wealth existing side by side with pervasive poverty’. One of the main goals of the AMV is Boosting Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining, which requires signatories to devise strategies for ‘Harnessing the potential of small scale mining to improve rural livelihoods and integration into the rural and national economy’. Moves being made to achieve this, however, could have an adverse impact on many of the women working in ASM in sub-Saharan Africa. Findings from the literature and research being undertaken by the authors in Sierra Leone and Zambia suggest that whilst most women engaged in ASM in the region work informally and, as a result, face very challenging circumstances daily, many have adapted to their surroundings and now earn far more money than they would from any other income-earning activity. Governments must study these dynamics before taking action under the auspices of the AMV to formalize and support women in ASM.

KEYWORDS:

• artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)
• sub-Saharan Africa
• informal sector
• women
• poverty

Notes on contributors

Gavin Hilson is Chair of Sustainability in Business and the University of Surrey Business School, United Kingdom. He is a leading global authority on the environmental and social impacts of artisanal and small-scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa, having published over 200 papers, reports and book chapters on the subject. Professor Hilson received Bachelor's and Masters degrees from the University of Toronto, and his Ph.D. from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.

Abigail Hilson is lecturer in Accounting at the School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London. She conducts research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and environmental and social accounting in the extractive industries. She received her Bachelor's degree from the University of Ghana, MBA from the Schulich School of Business, York University Canada and Ph.D. from Aston University, UK.

Dr Agatha Siwale is a post-doctoral teaching fellow at Bard College, Berlin, where she teaches Public Policy and Policy Analysis. She earned her doctorate in Political Science from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. Her thesis research focused on how institutions shape resource use in Zambia's artisanal and small-scale mining sector. She has specifically worked on mapping production networks in artisanal and small-scale mining communities in Zambia and analyzing how they shape community incomes. She has also studied the impacts of formalisation on economic outcomes of artisanal and small-scale mining licence holders.

Dr Roy Maconachie is a Reader in International Development in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences at the University of Bath. His research in sub-Saharan Africa explores the social, political and economic aspects of natural resource management, and their relationships to wider societal change. Much of his recent work has had a particular focus on the extractive industries, livelihood change and social conflict in West Africa. He has been carrying out field-based research in Sierra Leone for over 15 years, and has spent much of this time working with artisanal diamond and gold miners. A focus on youth and gender have been important strands throughout his research.

Notes

1 This is consistent with the data available for ASM production worldwide, which underscore the economic importance of the sector across the developing world. Although the data are mostly outdated, there is reason to believe, despite its low productivity in most instances, that ASM accounts for roughly 20 percent of the global gold supply, 80 percent of the global sapphire supply and 20 percent of global diamond supply. It also accounts for a significant share of the world’s output of industrial minerals, including 25 percent of its tantalum and 25 percent of its tin (IGF, 2017).

2 ‘Five Facts about Informal Economy in Africa’, http://www.ilo.org/addisababa/whats-new/WCMS_377286/lang--en/index.htm (Accessed 4 June 2018).

3 Family farming and very small non-farm enterprises are commonly called ‘informal enterprises’.

4 The data for 2017-2020 are estimates.

5 ‘AFDB: Championing Inclusive Growth Across Africa’, www.afdb.org/en/blogs/afdb-championing-inclusive-growth-across-africa/post/recognizing-africas-informal-sector-11645/ (Accessed 13 April 2018).

6 A PRSP is a document required by the World Bank and IMF before a country can be considered for debt relief under the auspices of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. It is projected as being country-led and the ideas enshrined within it arrived at via participatory processes involving a multitude of stakeholders.

7 ‘Building Capacity for Environmental Sustainability in Artisanal and Small Scale Mining in Africa’, www.uneca.org/publications/building-capacity-environmental-sustainability-artisanal-and-small-scale-mining-africa (Accessed 3 June 2018).

8 At the time of writing, the conversion rate was approximately US$1: GH¢4.75

9 ‘Sierra Leone Eyes a Golden Future’, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5262960.stm (Accessed 4 June 2018).

10 Ibid.

11 Interview, woman miner, 4 December 2017, Lusaka.

12 Interview, government official, 16 July 2018, Lusaka.

13 Interview, government official, 16 July 2018, Lusaka.

14 Interview, women stone crushers, 20 July 2018, Kalingalinga, Lusaka.

15 Interviews, women gemstone jewellers, 18 July 2018, Lusaka.