Managing Our Resources: Women, Mining and Conflict in the Asia–Pacific

Mar 20, 2019 | Alison Davidian
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The extraction and exploitation of oil and mineral deposits have become increasingly possible across Asia and the Pacific. Rapid industrialisation and technological developments have led to new large-scale mines, as well as discoveries of ore deposits throughout the region. New technologies also mean that extraction can take place in sensitive, remote and unstable environments—the same environments that are often sites of recent or ongoing conflict.

Trade in minerals and other commodities has played a central role in funding and fuelling some of the world’s most deadly conflicts. The Asia–Pacific region is already home to several conflicts driven by the exploitation of natural resources. As demand for key commodities such as nickel and copper grows, the region is likely to face an increasing number of disputes in the coming decades.

While resource-driven conflicts affect entire communities, women are affected in unique ways. Studies show that women are more adversely affected than men by extractive industries. A gender bias exists in the distribution of costs and benefits in extractive industry projects, in which benefits accrue mostly to men in the form of employment and compensation, and costs fall heavily on women.