Navigating access to golden lands: Gender roles and constraints of women in artisanal and small-scale mining operations in north-western Ghana

Abstract

The daily lives of female artisanal and small-scale miners revolve around an array of complex and labour-driven activities. The complexities and labour demands vary depending on the type of artisanal and small-scale mining involved, the underground pit (ghetto) or surface mining. Few studies have explored how gender roles manifest in the two major mining types to inform policy on the creation of a gendered mining environment for women. This paper fills the lacuna in the literature by investigating gender roles and the consequential effects on female artisanal miners' daily lives and practices along the underground pit and surface mining. The liberal feminist theoretical lens is employed as a framework. Data were sourced through field observations and in-depth interviews with 13 lead miners (men) and 67 female miners in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Findings show that sociocultural marginalisation of women is predominant in underground pit/ghetto mining. Women are content to work in surface mining operations and can form gangs to operate independently; nevertheless, sociocultural framings have limited women's space and access to mineralised concessions. The study argues that steps towards promoting gender equality in artisanal and small-scale mining should explore a gendered mineralised concessions distribution; thus, the distribution of mining concessions under the community mining project by the government of Ghana should be gender-sensitive.