How women face health risks from mining, pollution

By Nneka Nwogwugwu

Margaret Molomo, a female environmental activist has spent the last decade fighting against mining developments near her home of Mokopane in Limpopo, South Africa.

“Over the past ten years I have witnessed first-hand the harm that non-compliant mining has done to our land and our people. It is primarily women who grow food to sustain their families and who can no longer do so due to soil and water pollution. It is women who must travel further and further to find clean water,” says Molomo.

Her experiences have led to her becoming chair of the Mining and Environmental Justice Community Network of South Africa (MEJCON), All Africa reports.

In rural areas, mining projects pose a great risk to the availability and quality of agricultural land that women need to feed their families and produce surplus for local markets. Mining operations contaminate and degrade the fertility of soil through the release of toxic minerals and heavy metals, poor rehabilitation measures, and deforestation. This causes decreased crop yields.

Not only soil but water is also affected. Mining consumes a lot of water and often local communities lose access to the water sources they rely on for small-scale subsistence farming and for domestic use. Water also becomes polluted and unfit for agricultural or domestic consumption.

Molomo says there are many other ways that mining negatively impacts women. “Fewer women can look for work outside the home because they have to care for relatives who have been sickened by pollution. The mines often hire male workers from other areas who already have experience in the industry. This leads to higher unemployment amongst local men and in turn increases rates of domestic violence, underage sex work and teenage pregnancy.”

Molomo’s experience is supported by research that shows women living close to mines are more likely to experience “heightened insecurity and violence, limited voice in decision making, health risks from pollution, heightened socio-economic vulnerability, increased prostitution and greater exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV/AIDS.”