By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Women have historically been key actors in artisanal mining in the indigenous Mandingo communities of south-eastern Senegal and western Mali. However the increased profitability of this sector over the past decade has led to their economic marginalisation and exposure to multiple forms of insecurity.
Institute for Security Studies (ISS) research reveals how women involved in artisanal and small-scale gold mining face discrimination and obtain little benefits from a lucrative sector despite their key labour roles. This is especially true in the mining regions of Tambacounda and Kédougou in south-eastern Senegal and Kayes in western Mali.
Latest figures show artisanal mining production of 4.3 tons in 2018 in Senegal, representing a total value of €132 million, and 26 tons in Mali in 2019, representing an estimated amount of €1.1 billion.
Fahiraman Rodrigue Koné, Senior Researcher and Adja Khadidiatou Faye, Research Officer noted that definitive official data is limited due to the clandestine nature of most of the mining sites, analysis from 2018 in Senegal and 2019 in Mali estimated that women constituted half of the artisanal and small-scale mining labour force.
Significantly, the female mining labour force is not only Senegalese and Malian but also includes various West African nationals from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria.
In the localities where ISS conducted research, there’s a strong belief among artisanal miners that a high female presence on a mining site means high gold content. Women carry out varied tasks in and around gold mining sites. Physically they’re used to pull the buckets containing ore from the pits. They also participate in transporting, crushing and processing the ore by separating the gold, with or without chemicals.
At the lowest rank of the operational hierarchy, these tasks carried out by women are part of local social norms of the labour division that see women as mere helpers for men.
These women are poorly paid and operate in difficult working conditions. Many are temporary helpers for different groups of miners. They are either paid in ore and receive the smallest portions, or in ore slurry. In both cases the gain is very uncertain, and depends on whether gold is found.
Earning low incomes, women don’t have sufficient financial means to buy mechanised tools needed to increase profits. In the two countries, they also play only limited roles in the governance of artisanal and small-scale mining sites. According to social norms, the sites are controlled by traditional authorities – who are predominantly men.
In their suggestions, Kone and Faye urged that the situation for women in artisanal and small-scale mining, in an already insecure environment shadowed by jihadist threats in the Sahel region, has been neglected. More attention should be paid to their place in the current booming gold mining economy, and efforts should be made to address the various vulnerabilities and risks they are exposed to in that sector.
‘’Senegal and Mali must urgently implement a policy of positive discrimination to facilitate women’s access to mining land to help reduce their economic vulnerability and encourage their formalisation and involvement in the sector’s governance.
“Technical cooperation frameworks involving countries of origin, transit and destination of human trafficking (notably Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali and Ghana, Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire) are also needed to combat the trafficking of young women effectively. In collaboration with concerned countries and humanitarian organisations, a policy of voluntary return of victims should also be established,’’ they added.
