Gender, Development and the Extractive Industries
Transcript of Gender, Development and the Extractive Industries
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Gender, Development andthe Extractive Industries
Ashlee Schleger
The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank
(ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and
accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty
or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.
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CSRM is a research centre located inthe Sustainable Minerals Institute
(SMI) at the University of
Queensland.
The centres work aims to improvethe social performance of the
extractive industries globally. Our
focus is on the social, economic and
political challenges that occur when
change is brought about by resource
extraction and development.
We are a multi-disciplinary group of
30 researchers with knowledge of the
extractive industry, both at thecorporate and operational level.
Who we are
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Our work spans a range of thematic areas, covering the interactionsbetween resource projects, communities and other stakeholders.
We conduct applied researchand provide education, training andprofessional development services.
What we do: not just minerals
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Gender is sociallyconstructed. It is acquired
and learned
behaviour/knowledge that is
not naturally determined.
Gender refers to roles and
responsibilities of women
and men, and therelationships between them.
Gender roles vary
depending on the culturalcontext and overtime.
Context
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Positives
Economic opportunities through
employment and local business
Increased mobility, skill level andemployability elsewhere
Improved infrastructure and
wellbeing, e.g. health clinics.
CD programs may increase
womens empowerment
Increased focus on human rights,
addressing strategic gender issues
Motivate local people to complete
education, including women.
But
Negative impacts fall
disproportionately on women
I will talk about:
Local employment
In-migration
Access to resources
Engagement
Agreement-making
Extractive industries and impacts on women
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It is mostly men who gain employmentwithin extractive industries. Some of the
negative impacts on women include:
The division of labourcan be significantly
altered, sometimes very quickly
Inflation of costs
FIFO women manage households alone
If men are injured women carry the burden in the
domestic sphere
Discrimination in the workplace
Local Employment
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The influx of a transient male workforce, can bring social and healthproblems and have particular impacts on women and girls:
In-migration
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Loss of land and displacement can leadto loss of livelihoods
Environmental damage and degradation
can underminewomens capacity to
provide for their families.
Being unable to provide for families can
increase dependence on men.
Relocation and resettlement can fragmentcommunities and lead to social breakdown
and the breaking of kinship ties.
For women, displacement and re-settlement
can involve separation from social and
extended family support networks,
increasing their isolation and vulnerability.
Access to resources (land and water)
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Women not always consulted or allowed to speak in publicmeetings sometimes because of cultural or workload reasons.
The failure to consult with women when negotiating access to
land, compensation and royalties disempowers women.
Failure to adequately engage these women also means that their
knowledge is not accessed, and their values arent
considered in project planning.
The exclusion of women from negotiations and compensation
can exacerbate resentment and conflict with, and within, thelocal communities.
Engagement
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Payments of compensation to men on
behalf of families can often deny women
access to and control over the financialbenefits of mining.
Men often deplete compensation funds
through the consumption of status goods,
drinking, gambling, prostitution and conflicts
with competing male land-owners.
Women-headed (or single) households may
not receive payments if they do not have a
male representative.
Agreement-making
Benefit sharing agreements dont always benefit women.
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The benefits and risks of extractive industries are oftenmeasured broadly at the community level, but fail to
distinguish the impact on men and women.
Adopting a gender perspective is important i.e. how
mining has a differential, disproportionate or
unforeseen impact on women or men, boys or girls, as a
result of their different social, cultural or legal roles, rights
and responsibilities.
The consideration of gender is a lens through whichimpacts and human rights should be examined.
A gender perspective
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The development effectiveness and sustainability of
extractive industry projects could increase significantly by takinginto account how gender bias issues affect the extractive
industry sector and how their activities can benefit men and
women more equally.
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Some increasing awareness aboutgender amongst industry but not many explicit strategic responses
Appointment of a gender desk, but this can
result in womens issues being treated asan aside
Integration into impact assessment and CD often a response to practical needs, not
strategic needs
More research being under taken looking atthe specific impact of mining on women.
impacts of FIFO on women indigenous womens employment
gendered dynamics of agreement making
sexual health and exploitation (incl. violence)
Emerging Trends
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Industry traction / raising awareness (amongst mostly malemanagers)
Relating gender to human rights, social impact assessment
and other management systems processes
Ensuring that its about men and women and the
relationships between them
Huge contextual challenges, drivers for gender
discrimination are SO ingrained
Challenges
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THANK YOU
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@resourcerules
csrm.info