Dimensions of women’s mobility, livelihoods, and vulnerability in artisanal and small-scale mining-induced local economy

Résumé

Abstract Dominant artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) narratives highlight the invisibility of women’s livelihoods and gendered struggles in the sector. Indeed, the dimensions of women’s livelihoods in ASM, how daily mobilities aid this, and the specific vulnerabilities various women face in ASM settings are still understudied and undertheorised. Drawing on a local economy perspective and qualitative research involving semi-structured interviews and field observations in Ghana, we explore the livelihood dimensions of different women engaged in ASM within the context of an open rural economy. Our findings highlight diverse groups of women building livelihoods in ASM: young girls and women during school holidays, young junior high school students and apprentices working during weekends, young girls awaiting their Basic Education Certificate Examination results, young women in need of money for learning a vocation, pregnant teens/young women, and women in pursuit of money to set up micro enterprises (petty-trading) build a temporary livelihood in ASM to deal with their dire economic situations. However, destitute women, single, divorced/separated, married women, migrants, and widows who face economic hardships, as well as those who struggle to have better alternative livelihood options in the rural economy, choose to create a permanent source of income from ASM through their participation as diggers, selectors, or carriers of ore. The third livelihood dimension is the indirect livelihood opportunities ASM offer to women through 'san ban ho’ (side-work livelihood based on credit conditions); petty-trading in ASM spaces; home-based trading; and market-day trading; commuting trading; underground pit ‘ghetto’ sponsorship. While daily mobility shapes the viability of livelihood-building efforts in ASM, in most cases, women experience different health and economic vulnerabilities that affect their health-related quality of life and livelihood gains. Some of these vulnerabilities include sexual exploitation and teenage pregnancies among young women and girls of school-going age, and economic hardships caused by the state-imposed ban on ASM on the livelihood of women such as ‘san ban ho’ and commuting traders who indirectly depend on the boom in ASM communities. We argue that formalisation efforts and policies ought to advance employment opportunities for women who directly and indirectly participate in the ASM sector without displacing them and destroying the livelihoods of women whose income, daily survival and very existence are dependent on ASM.

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