Women Cooperatives in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Zimbabwe: A Livelihood Perspective

Abstract

In Sub-Saharan Africa, natural resources endowment has remained a key source of livelihoods in rural  areas. This study argues that in rural Zimbabwe, artisanal gold mining has become a major economic and  livelihood activity with great potential for improving women’s socio-economic condition. However, this  sector is predominantly male, making it difficult for women to penetrate it. Women who enter this  masculine economic terrain are bound to encounter challenges. In Manicaland Province, to deal with such  challenges, they constitute artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) cooperatives. Focusing on Manicaland  Province and applying feminist perspectives, the study examines why women enter this male-dominated  sector; the nature of women's cooperatives, and ultimately the extent to which cooperatives bolster  participation in gold mining as well as socio-economic benefits derived through such cooperatives. This  study makes a significant contribution to literature by examining how women cooperatives in ASM shape  their livelihoods in rural Zimbabwe. In this qualitative study, the researcher conveniently and purposively  sampled 20 particpants, that is, women working in gold panning, law enforcement agents, and traditional  leaders. The study traces the various factors propelling women into artisanal mining and concludes that  women’s entry and continued participation in the artisanal mining sector reflects their ongoing gendered  struggles for inclusion. Notwithstanding all the study participants agree that women are utilising the  cooperative system to mitigate the challenges, sexual harassment included, that threaten to eliminate them  from the male-dominated mining sector. It also found that under the cooperative system, participants are  realising reasonable economic gains. The study recommends that the government of Zimbabwe should  formally recognise Artisanal and Small-Scale gold mining as a source of livelihoods, not only for men, but  women as well.