DRC: Man’s World: Are Women in Artisanal Mining Still a ‘Bad Omen’?

Jun 28, 2021 | Yoana Cholteeva
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Many communities believe women to bring bad luck at mining sites, despite women making up up to half of artisanal miners.

When it comes to the issue of representation of female artisanal and small-scale miners (ASMs), there are a few recurring trends that are key to identifying how female miners are seen in relation to the industry.

“For sure there is a strong narrative in some contexts that link real concerns about women’s health to claims about women’s moral well being, and the wellbeing of their children in relation to their mining activities,” Doris Buss, professor in law and legal studies at Carleton University, Canada, says, but some policies could be standing on shaky ground.

One of the most striking examples for this is the case of a ministerial order In Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which banned pregnant women from gold mining, an example that Buss and Rutherford have explored as part of their recent research. The reason for the ban was the link to the narrative that women and their children are particularly at risk when present at a mining site.