Livelihood Issues and Concerns of Women and Men in Small Mines and Quarries of South Asia

The global trend of informalisation of women’s work is also evident in what is commonly known as artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) practices. Women constitute a large segment of workers in the informal mines and quarries all over the world, working as cutters, diggers, sievers, panners, crushers, processors and transporters of a broad range of minerals from sand, gravel and stones to gemstones, gold and diamonds. Small mines and quarries are extremely diverse in their nature, but comprise a repository of extremely poor people. Women are quite invisible although they participate in large numbers in these mineral extraction practices. This paper focuses on the small mines and quarries of South Asia, and reviews the gender and livelihood issues and concerns in these mines. This research presented here is exploratory in nature, making some estimates based on proxy indicators and field surveys, and addresses a gap in existing knowledge in ASM and on gender roles in the informal work in the mines and quarries in South Asia. The paper aims at providing the necessary backdrop, relevant information and interpretation of their livelihood needs for developing policy measures in relation to the informal mining industry in South Asia and for sensitisation of stakeholders to the issues rooted in gender. The more specific objectives of the research are to examine women’s roles and participation in a range of informal mining practices in the region within the overall livelihoods framework.

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