WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY:

Strengthening TAF’s Gender Strategy within Environmental Programming

February 2014

Environment Theme: Focus Areas

Natural Resources Management and Use

Environmental Governance

Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Management

Transboundary Water Resources Management

Urban Environment (exploratory)

Low-carbon development (initial)

Environment Theme: Approaches

Building Trust

Collaborative partnerships

Empowered voices

Transparent systems

Informed solutions

Key TermsEnvironmental Sustainability emphasizes that economic and social development plans need to incorporate a balanced management of natural resources, such as atmosphere, water and soil, so that the “environmental service capacity” of key life-support systems can continue to sustain humanity.

Women’s Empowerment focuses on the structural and social changes that need to occur in order for women to have equal rights and opportunities, to have the freedom and the means to reach their goals, and to have the tools to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

How Does Gender Matter? Environmental degradation and climate change

disproportionately affect different regions, generations, ages, income groups, occupations, and genders, with the most vulnerable populations being the world’s poorest people in LDCs, of which 70% are women.

Women make up 60% of workforce in climate-sensitive subsistence farming and the agricultural industry.

Women have less access than men to education, credit, political participation, family planning, information and technology, land rights, and diverse income-generating opportunities.

Violence against women increases in the aftermath of natural disasters and depletion of natural resources.

What’s Happening in Asia?

pollution and depletion of fresh water supplies accelerating demands for oil, gas, coal, and

minerals decline of ocean and freshwater fisheries degradation and disappearance of critical

ecological services and biodiversity food insecurity, malnutrition and permanent loss

of agricultural lands increasing amounts of waterborne diseases premature deaths from air pollution conflict over scarce natural resources

ENV and WEP: A Natural Fit

Leadership and

Participation

Rights and

Justice

Capacity

Building

What Can We Learn From Others?CARE, Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), OXFAM International, Vital Voices Global Partnership (VVGP), DFID, ADB, IUCN, USAID…have outlined official guidelines for gender provisions in their missions that include at minimum to: integrate gender issues into policies on climate change

adaptation and mitigation (gender action plan) promote gender equality in national crisis response and

recovery acts encourage gender-sensitive financial planning support active participation of women’s organizations

in environmental programming develop gender indicators and inclusion of gender-

disaggregated data in project monitoring and reporting

Waste Management

Natural Resource Management

Climate Change Adaptation

Green Entrepreneurship

Two-Pronged Approach

Take a moment and quickly think…..

What are the joint gender and environmentalissues in your country context?

TAF – MG’s Environmental work from the gender aspect

Anujin (Anu) BaatarkhuuEnvironmental Project Coordinator

Outline

Gender overview in Mongolia

ASM as a sub-sector in Mongolia

Engaging Stakeholders for Environmental Conservation – Phase II (ESEC II)

Gender assessment in artisanal and small-scale mine sub-sector

Artisanal mining sector in Mongolia

Distribution of artisanal and small-scale miners

Source: Report on artisanal and small scale miners’ survey 2012, NSO

Engaging Stakeholders for Environmental Conservation Phase II

(ESEC - II)

Mongolia’s artisanal mining sector contributes to sustainable local development, including the realization of the right to a healthy environment and the right to decent work

Donor organization: SDC Duration: 3.5 years Project partner: Ministry of Mining, SDC/SAM Implementation sites: 50 soums of 15 aimags

(organized)

Gender assessment (2013) Objective - To develop a gender mainstreaming strategy

Methodology - Quantitative (Social Policy Development Research

Institute) - Qualitative (Field trip in August)

Coverage (qualitative)- Tunkhel bagh- Airag soum - Sharyn Gol

Mongolia’s National Statistical Office (2012)

Objective- To provide data that can be used to further assess effectiveness of the current legal framework in this sector and inform future policies on artisanal and small scale mine.

Methodology- Working group

Coverage - 13.4 thousand citizens

Number of artisanal and small scale miners by age group and gender

Gender ratio242 males: 100 females

Level of education of artisanal and small scale miners

Source: Report on artisanal and small scale miners’ survey 2012, NSO

Involvement of women in and around artisanal and small scale mine

Total number of small scale miners who participated in the survey: 13 375

Unpaid worker at family business

2713 (20.3%)

Male: 1856 (68.4%)

Female: 857 (31.6%)

Leaders, members of partnerships 1930 (14.4%)

Male: 1470 (76.2%)

Female: 460 (23.8%)

Artisanal and small scale

miners6772 (50.6%)

Male: 5844 (86.3%)

Female: 928 (13.7%)

Small scale mining supporting activities 1960 (14.7%)

Male: 1290 (65.8%)Female: 670 (34.2%)

Source: Report on artisanal and small scale miners’ survey 2012, NSO

Gender division of labor in artisanal and small scale mine

Mining Processing Auxiliary services

Digging

Go underground

Crush stones

Use compressor to pull up rocks

Operate windlass

Bag ore

Sorting stones

Transporting ore

Loading and unloading trucks

Dynamite blasting

Panning/Washing ore

Clean the mills at the processing plant

Use water pump

Prepare food/Deliver food

Dish washing

Clean up

Selling gold

Organization/ Coordination

Men

Women

Health issues afflicting artisanal and small scale miners

Health problems Male (% ) Female (%)

Respiratory system disease 89.4 10.6 Backaches 81.9 18.1 Digestion related disease 75 25.0 Cardio disease 68.6 31.4 Skin and subcutaneous cellulos disease 85.8 14.2 Bone and muscle structure and connecting tissue 76.9 23.1 Urinary and genital 65.0 35.0 Injuries, intoxication and other diseases caused by external causes

89.1 10.9

Nervous system diseases 65.1 34.9 Infections and parasitic diseases 63.6 34.4

Source: Report on artisanal and small scale miners’ survey 2012, NSO

Mercury intoxication among artisanal and small scale miners

Total urine mercury concentration

N Mean+/-SD Total 1865 0.254 +/-

1.796Men 812 0.249 +/-

2.07Women 1053 0.257 +/-

1.55

Source: Reference value of mercury in blood and urine of Mongolian people, 2013, WHO

Key findings

Literacy rate of artisanal and small scale miners are high- National average - Female miners

Improving skills of and supporting female artisanal and small scale miners

Consider ‘double burden’ of women - Household chores and child care - Physical demand at the site

Awareness raising on occupational safety and first aid - Mercury

Observations: Relevant resources: Land, land-related technologies and knowledge of these

technologies, knowledge about government policies, knowledge of methods to create environmental action plans.

Access to information on the process of civil registration. Access to social services: schools, hospitals. Household resource needs: Appropriate dwelling, school (seasonal), hospital, access

to food, sanitation. Education: In rural areas, women are better educated than men and so can be more

active environmental actors in ASM rehabilitation.

Interventions: Gender analysis baseline survey shall be conducted to define the gendered use of

resources, resource needs, access to land use, technologies, and knowledge of and access to government regulations.

Targeted trainings to make up for knowledge gaps identified.

Access to and Control over Resources:

Who has access to resources? How are they used? Gender constraints?

Knowledge, Beliefs, Perceptions:Who knows what? What are relevant beliefs?

Observations: Social perception is negative towards ASM. Women shall not do “hard” physical work Older men are “wiser” and their words are ones to be listened and

followed Women tend to be more willing to do either rehabilitation compared to

men; and women tend to be more willing to do biological rehabilitation whereas men will be more involved in technical rehabilitation processes.

Belief: ASM causes environmental degradation. This can affect women more than men because women gather water.

Interventions: Perception survey needs to be conducted Green ASM technologies are introduced to address environmental

degradation. Empower women to serve as leaders, build their capacity, and broaden

their knowledge. Train both women and men on new technologies. Assign both men and

women to technological tasks.

Practices and Participation: Who does what? What are relevant gender roles?

Observations In hard rock, underground mining, men are more involved in digging and

bagging whereas women are responsible in household duties, childcare and small businesses (in some cases).  

In placer gold mining, both men and women are involved in the mining process.

Women participation tend to be limited due to domestic work burden. The time is key resource of the participation. But women spend more 4-5 hours for the household duties.

Interventions Training on rehabilitation, health and safety, gender equality (men and

women shall be involved equally).

Hold trainings when women are less likely to have household duties. Provide childcare options.

Time and Space: How do men and women structure their days?

Observations Men spend their day at the mine site. Women spend their day at home taking care of children, doing household duties

and supporting men in other ways Men have hard duties (physically, and safety and health wise) for a short time

period. Women tend to have every day “easier” duties for a longer time period. Mining is seasonal, except coal mining

Interventions Conduct trainings targeted for women near households. Conduct trainings

targeted for men at mine sites. Trainings, workshops and other activities shall be conducted seasonally:  In winter the project can focus on: Gender equality trainings & Awareness raising In summer the project can focus on: Health and safety (on site) & Rehabilitation

(on site)

Legal Rights and Status: What are key legal issues and how are they practiced?

Observations ASMers are more or less aware and know their legal rights and

responsibilities. Unfortunately, these are not being fully complied (Ex: avoiding taxes)

 2010 Amendments in the Minerals Law and Land law, Law of Mongolia Mining and land related legislation can be believed to be “gender neutral”

but it can actually provide distinct advantages to men and women. Interventions Education on rehabilitation requirements for ASMers by resource types

(gold, fluorspar, etc.) for more responsible compliance of ASMers.  Participatory focus group discussions shall be conducted to gauge men’s

and women’s awareness of legal rights and policy and the effectiveness of the laws.

 Conduct trainings to inform men and women on legal rights (if this is perceived as a need).This is important for vulnerable women miners to obtain mining land.

Leadership and Decision Making:Who has control over decisions and what are gender

constraints?

Observations Women tend to make decision regarding household, whereas men hold

mining rights to make decision about the site.  On the other hand, ASMes formed into partnerships tend to be headed by

women leaders. However, we are not fully aware who has the control.  Men are more represented in the policy-making world and higher ranks of

government so women have less control over designing relevant policies.

Interventions Support women ASMers voices to be heard at the policy-making level

through influential NGOs and gender centers.  Support formation and networking of associations of women miners.  Local multi-stakeholder councils can negotiate a budget for gender-

specific activities including ensuring a balance in local multi-stakeholder councils.

ESEC II Gender Action Plan Natural capital - Access to mineral deposits and other employment:

Women’s equal participation in small scale mine and other activities in and around the mine

Human capital - Skills, knowledge and ability: Run skills and

technology transfer programs and ensure equitable participation by women through gender sensitive programming (mercury free technologies, rehabilitation and green jobs)

Financial capital - Funds for prospecting: support women’s equal

access to finance through trainings on management, organizational skills and leadership development

ESEC II Gender Action Plan (cont.)

Social capital - Network to access support: Awareness raising

activities for different stakeholders about the need to have gender equity (ensure gender sensitive action plans are put in place by LMCs)

- Support formation of Women’s Committee within ASM NGOs

- Support equal participation of both women and men in project activities (ex: children’s corner)

- Support small scale Mining information and service centers

Local Context

ENVWEP

Identifying Gender/ENV pilot projects

WEP/ENV Collaborative Concepts

Gender and Climate Change Adaptation Addressing climate change and gender in Bangladesh

Gender and Climate Change Finance Women’s access to climate finance (clean energy,

adaptation) Gender responsive budgeting

Women Green Entrepreneurs Supporting Chinese women green entrepreneurs

What are gender + environmental issues in your country context?Climate finance: access to or integration of gender

Unequal roles in decision-making (around natural resource management, energy disaster management)

Dependence on natural resources Lack of political representation in environmental decision-making

Primary responsibility for collecting fire wood, water, food

Increased vulnerability post natural disaster

Unequal access to resources Lack of support for (green) business entrepreneurship

Identifying Gender/ENV pilot projects

1. Elaborate on the specific challenges women face related to the environmental issue

2. How would TAF have a comparable advantage for addressing this?

3. Review your answers to Questions 1 and 2 above. Identify a title for a potential pilot project.