DAR ES SALAAM, Apr 29 (IPS) – Underneath the scorching Tanzanian solar, Neema Mushi wipes sweat from her dust-covered face and swings her pickaxe into the earth. The affect sends mud swirling into the air, coating her tattered garments. She barely notices. For the previous eight years, this has been her life—digging, sifting, sieving, and hoping to strike gold within the male-dominated pits of Geita. It’s a grueling activity riddled with obstacles.
“I wish to personal a mining pit myself,” she says. “However on this trade, girls are all the time ignored on the subject of land possession points.”
Regardless of years of laborious work, girls like Mushi stay on the wobbly fringe of survival.
One night, after hours of rock crushing, she spots a tiny twinkle of gold. Earlier than she will pocket it, a male miner comes near her.
“That is my spot,” he growls, snatching the gold from her palms. Mushi clenches her fists, understanding she will’t struggle again—not in a system that was by no means constructed for her.
She as soon as tried to register a mining plot in her identify. On the native workplace, the clerk barely regarded up.
“You want your husband’s permission,” he muttered, shuffling papers on his desk. Mushi hesitated—she had no husband, solely three kids to feed. The clerk shrugged. “Then discover a male accomplice,” he mentioned, waving her away.
Earlier than becoming a member of Umoja wa Wanawake Wachimbaji, a cooperative for ladies miners, Mushi struggled to pay her kids’s college charges. Now, she watches them stroll to high school in clear uniforms, their laughter filling the air. She has struck greater than gold—she has discovered hope.
Crushing Male Chauvinism
Tanzania is Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer, with mining contributing almost 10 % of the nation’s GDP. An estimated one to 2 million individuals work in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), and almost a 3rd of them are girls. But, regardless of their numbers, feminine miners wrestle for recognition, battling land possession restrictions, lack of financing, and discrimination in a sector the place males maintain the facility.
For years, Mushi labored informally on the edges of licensed mines, sifting via gold-bearing rocks discarded by male miners. With out a mining license or land of her personal, she relied on middlemen who purchased her finds at exploitative costs.
“In the event you don’t have your personal declare, you’re at their mercy,” she says. “They’ll chase you away at any time.”
Tanzania’s mining legal guidelines technically permit girls to personal licenses, however in observe, few handle to accumulate them. The bureaucratic course of is complicated, and prices are prohibitive.
“Most mining land is allotted to males or massive firms,” says Alpha Ntayomba, a mining activist and Government Director of the Inhabitants Growth Initiative. “Girls usually find yourself engaged on borrowed land or as laborers on another person’s declare.”
Past land rights, monetary limitations loom giant. Mining requires funding—tools, processing amenities, and typically heavy equipment. However banks see girls miners as too dangerous, denying them loans and locking them right into a cycle of harmful, low-paying work.
As a lightweight rain drizzles, a dozen girls trudge via dust-choked paths, carrying heavy sacks of ore on their heads. Many are single moms, struggling to outlive in an trade the place they’re usually underpaid, exploited, and subjected to harassment.
“Girls in artisanal mining are on the backside of the chain,” says Ntayomba. “They do the toughest jobs—crushing rocks, washing ore in mercury-contaminated water—but they earn the least and are most susceptible to abuse.”
Sexual Exploitation and Harassment
For a lot of feminine miners, exploitation is a day by day actuality. Reviews of sexual harassment and coercion in change for job alternatives are widespread. Girls working in gold-processing areas usually rely upon male pit homeowners or brokers to entry ore, making them susceptible to abuse.
“Some girls are compelled into exploitative relationships simply to get entry to the gold they assist extract,” says Ntayomba. “Sexual favors turn into a hidden value of doing enterprise for a lot of girls on this sector.”
Many hesitate to report harassment for concern of retaliation or job loss. Others lack the authorized information or assist networks wanted to hunt justice.
“I do know girls who had been kicked out of their jobs after rejecting advances from male mine homeowners,” Ntayomba says. “The system is rigged in opposition to them, and the dearth of sturdy authorized protections worsens it.”
Well being Dangers and Mercury Publicity
Past exploitation, girls in artisanal mining additionally face extreme well being dangers. Many spend hours washing gold with mercury—a poisonous metallic that may trigger neurological harm and start defects—with none protecting tools.
“Most ladies don’t understand how harmful mercury is,” says Ntayomba. “They combine it with their naked palms and inhale poisonous fumes, exposing themselves and their kids to long-term well being issues.”
Activists like Ntayomba are pushing for change via advocacy and coaching applications. His group has been lobbying for stricter rules to guard girls’s rights, present safer mining practices, and guarantee equal entry to financial alternatives.
“We want the federal government to acknowledge girls miners as key gamers within the sector,” he says. “Which means formalizing their work, offering security coaching, and guaranteeing they’ve authorized rights to mining claims.”
However progress is gradual.
“Girls in artisanal mining deserve dignity, honest pay, and safety from exploitation,” Ntayomba emphasizes. “The trade can’t proceed to thrive on their struggling.”
Breaking Rocks, Breaking Obstacles
Decided to alter their fortunes, Mushi and a bunch of girls miners shaped Umoja wa Wanawake Wachimbaji, pooling sources and combating for a mining license of their very own—in step with Sustainable Growth Objective 8, which focuses on “Respectable Work and Financial Progress, a vital constructing block for attaining gender fairness and girls empowerment.
With assist from the Tanzania Girls Miners Affiliation (TAWOMA) and authorities applications for feminine entrepreneurs, they secured a small mining plot and invested in higher tools.
“We needed to show that we belong right here,” says Anna Mbwambo, a founding member of the cooperative. “For too lengthy, girls have been handled like helpers, not miners.”
For Mushi, the cooperative has modified all the things. “Earlier than, I might barely afford college charges for my kids,” she says. “Now, I can save, and I dream of increasing.”
Regardless of persistent challenges, change is underway. Organizations like STAMICO, Tanzania’s State Mining Company, are coaching small-scale miners in safer, extra environment friendly methods. The federal government has additionally established gold-buying facilities to make sure fairer costs, lowering girls’s dependence on exploitative middlemen.
Internationally, requires gender inclusivity in mining are rising. The World Financial institution has pushed for reforms to make the trade extra accessible to girls, whereas the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is advocating for insurance policies that empower feminine miners.
TAWOMA, which has fought for ladies’s rights in mining since 1997, continues to push for a future the place girls should not simply included however main.
“We wish to see girls proudly owning mines, working companies, and making selections,” says its chairwoman.
Carving a New Future
Standing on the fringe of her mine, Mushi watches her fellow miners work the land they now personal. It’s a small plot, overshadowed by bigger male-run operations, however to her, it represents one thing greater—hope.
“I need my daughters to see {that a} girl can do something,” she says. “She will be able to work, she will personal it, and she will succeed.”
She grips her pickaxe and swings once more, sending one other spray of mud into the air. Every strike brings her nearer to a future the place girls miners should not simply surviving however thriving.
This text is delivered to you by IPS Noram, in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai Worldwide, in consultative standing with the UN’s Financial and Social Council (ECOSOC).
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