ARTISANAL MINING IS A RISK FOR WOMEN IN SIERRA LEONE

 

ARTISANAL MINING IS A RISK FOR WOMEN IN SIERRA LEONE

 BY THERESA THOMAS

Mining in Sierra Leone is practiced in many ways, including large-scale, artisanal, and small-scale mining, as well as illegal forms of mining that are supported by local authorities.

Whatever shape mining takes, it tends to increase the vulnerability of women and girls. according to research and interviews conducted It has been noted that in mining communities there are increases in domestic violence, cases of rape, prostitution, an upsurge in teenage pregnancies, child labour… the list goes on. 

This according to the Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources Musa Timothy Kabba said to this medium that Sierra Leone is a resource-rich country with significant deposits of iron ore, diamonds, bauxite, rutile and gold and other minerals and that Sierra Leone has been actively involved in mining since the 1920s.

The mineral resources are contributing about 24% to the country's GDP. It’s unfortunate that mining communities benefit little or nothing from their God given gifts.

The country is also currently on mining to increase the Human Development Index (HDI)

Most striking of all is that the communities where these mines are located benefit little, if at all, from the revenues generated. Roads are poorly built; if there is electricity, it is mainly used to supply the mine and access to state services (health, education, etc.) is limited. Rather, nepotism, corruption, political bribes, and violence are the main results of mining in Sierra Leone. 

Talking to this medium, Esther Finda Kandeh, is currently the director of Women on Mining and Extractive (WoMiE) said there is lot ongoing in the mining sector of which reports has been launched to amplify forces of women. Challenges has been part of their history as an artisanal mining which has been shredded into different traditional beliefs, discrimination, fertile land which has caused them to be driven from the sites, Gender base violence and they have been accused of not knowing the value of these minerals and has cost them low finance which has made them not to be able to support their families and businesses.

Over 45% of females are active in Artisanal mining. These females have no platform, issues, objectives don’t reflect and no focus on the aspect of business.

She however stated that Artisanal mining is very difficult to control of which there are procedures of Artisanal mining which women are in the habit to undergo Artisanal mining in some areas which are not to the notice of the ministry, NMA (National Mineral Agency) and paramount chiefs of which they should be consulted before undergoing such activities to avoid disputes between miners and landowners. As there are laws governing female miners in the mines and mineral Act. 2009 which is under review and the 2018 Artisanal mining policy. 

However, she continued by saying that the role of women as mineworkers and as household workers has been erased. And they have challenged the masculinity associated with the mines, taking a longer-term and a global labour history perspective.

We foreground the importance of women as mineworkers in different parts of the country since the early modern period and analyze the changes introduced in coal mining in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the masculinization and mechanization, and the growing importance of women in contemporary artisanal and small-scale mining.

However, the effect of protective laws and the exclusion of women from underground tasks was to restrict women's work more to the household, which played a pivotal role in mining communities but is insufficiently recognized.

This process of “de-labourization” of women's work was closely connected with the distinction between productive and unproductive labour.

Voices of women were recorded in relations to the struggle they go through since they were relocated from their communities. About 250 families were selected for relocation to Kono, Tonkolili etc. and are yet to be relocated. On daily basis they faced the threat of blasting from Mining Company machines as houses continue to be destroyed by the blasting and has effect on the people of the community.

According to Kadiatu Sesay who is in artisanal gold mining in Tonkolili District, Sierra Leone. Argues that women’s status in Sierra Leone and their socio-economic conditions contribute to the economic practices within artisanal gold mining in which they can participate.

Showing how state interventions are enmeshed in the pre-existing social relations, dependency ties and governance relations in gold mining sites, it examines how gendered norms and practices, combined with governance issues pertaining to the effectiveness of policy in advancing equality, contribute to keeping women in gendered roles and limit their empowerment and full participation in the sector.

These norms and relationships largely work against women, keeping them on the margins of the artisanal gold mines even while this economic activity may provide women (and their households) with much-needed financial resources.

However, Mabinty Kamara pour her heart to this medium that Usually, by weakening existing social ties, i.e. the very foundation of community vitality. Often, communities are displaced to make way for the mine and moved to locations that are far from their workplaces, schools, and places of worship. This separates families and undermines community life. Even when people are not displaced, their traditional means of subsistence, generally small-scale farming, is greatly affected by a deterioration in the quality of the soil, water, and air that stems directly from the nearby mining operation. Women prepared the food that the miners brought to work, and they cleaned the miner's clothes. They managed to support their children on what little pay the miner brought home, often dealing with the monopolistic prices at the market

Osman Bangura who has been into mining for over decades said that Mining exploitation also tends to be accompanied by foreign workers in their communities and beyond, he expressed their dissatisfaction over their style of work under very risky conditions and are underpaid.

At best, this leads to the development of a parallel and often underground economy, dependent on these workers. And at worst, it brings with it prostitution, child labour (minors are best suited to squeezing through narrow pathways, or to acting as carriers for example), sexual exploitation, and violence in general, including gender-based violence.   

Finally, to better cherish what we have, to take care of our possessions to keep them longer, to learn to repair our objects, and to reuse them.

And if instead of companies and shareholders benefitting, we help ensure that the communities themselves take charge of their own development and are organized to counter exploitation.

This story was produced with support from Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), through its Mobilizing Media in the Fight Against COVID-19 in partnership with the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ).