Women Miners in Developing Countries: Pit Women and Others

by Macintyre,Martha; Lahiri-Dutt,K

• ISBN13: 9780754646501
• ISBN10: 0754646505
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-05-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Contrary to their masculine portrayal, mines have always employed women in valuable and productive roles. Pit life is generally perceived as a uniquely male world, where the sharing of risks contribute to the formation of a particular form of male solidarity. This portrayal legitimises men as the only mineworkers and large, mechanized, capitalized operations as the only form of mining.Bringing together a range of case studies of women miners from past and present in Asia, the Pacific Region, Latin America and Africa, this book challenges these assumptions. Not only does it engender the mines, but it also highlights the small and informal ways mining is practised in the developing world. The book shows women engaged in various kinds of mining: on the surface as well as underground, in both large and small, modern and traditional, artisanal and small mining practices. In doing so, it illustrates how gender and inequality are constructed and sustained in the mines, and also how ethnic identities intersect with those gendered identities.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	xi
List of Tables	xii
Preface and Acknowledgements	xiii
Notes on Contributors	xv
Introduction: Where Life is in the Pits (and Elsewhere) and Gendered	1	(24)
Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and Martha Macintyre
The 'pit'?	1	(2)
Pit women	3	(1)
Mining and gendered constructions	4	(2)
Pit women as social subjects	6	(3)
And others	9	(2)
Mining in developing countries	11	(2)
Queens of coal and gold	13	(1)
The chapters in the book	14	(4)
References	18	(7)
PART I Reconstructing Gendered Histories of Mines
1 Women Miners: Here and There, Now and Then	25	(26)
Gill Burke
Introduction	25	(2)
Women as miners	27	(8)
Women at surface	35	(4)
Women in the mining community	39	(3)
The male miner	42	(5)
Women in small scale mining	47	(1)
References	48	(3)
2 Japanese Coal Mining: Women Discovered	51	(22)
Sachiko Sone
Introduction	51	(1)
The Japanese coal mining industry	52	(2)
Historical records of women miners	54	(3)
Characteristics of female labourers	57	(8)
Rationalization and the banning of female miners	65	(3)
Discharge of the female miners	68	(2)
Conclusion	70	(1)
References	70	(3)
3 Race, Gender and the Tin Mining Industry in Malaya, 1900-1950	73	(16)
Amarjit Kaur
Introduction: Political and economic frameworks	73	(1)
The tin industry, 1850-1950	73	(2)
Race and gender in the mining labour systems	75	(2)
Labour control	77	(1)
Wage structures and payment	78	(1)
Gender and the mining sector	79	(3)
The dulang pass system	82	(3)
Adaptation and change	85	(2)
References	87	(2)
4 Patriarchy, Colonialism and Capitalism: Unearthing the History of Adivasi Women Miners of Chotanagpur	89	(22)
Shashank S. Sinha
Introduction	89	(1)
Canvas Chotanagpur	90	(1)
Crisis in Chotanagpur	90	(1)
Situating women in the crisis	91	(2)
Colonialism and women miners	93	(6)
Post-colonial trends in women's marginalization	99	(7)
References	106	(5)
PART II Gender and Ethnic Identities in the Mines
5 Digging through Layers of Class, Gender and Ethnicity: Korean Women Miners in Prewar Japan	111	(20)
W. Donald Smith
Introduction	111	(3)
Japanese women and Korean men in the mines	114	(4)
Korean women's distinct occupational distribution	118	(4)
Heavy burden of housework	122	(5)
Conclusion	127	(1)
References	127	(4)
6 Women Working in the Mining Industry in Papua New Guinea: A Case Study from Lihir	131	(14)
Martha Macintyre
Introduction	131	(3)
Lihir	134	(2)
The changing economic role of women?	136	(1)
Lihirian working women	137	(2)
Working women with post-secondary qualifications	139	(5)
References	144	(1)
7 Traditional Small Scale Miners: Women Miners of the Philippines	145	(18)
Evelyn J. Caballero
Introduction	145	(1)
Historical and archaeological data	146	(3)
Ethnographic data	149	(2)
Lode miners	151	(1)
Placer mining	151	(1)
Processing	152	(3)
Smelting the gold	155	(1)
Sharing the ore and concentrate	155	(2)
Rituals	157	(1)
Events that affected the Kankana-ey	157	(3)
Conclusion	160	(1)
References	160	(3)
8 Mining Gender at Work in the Indian Collieries: Identity Construction by Kamins	163	(22)
Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt
Introduction: Identity work	163	(3)
Theorizing gender identities in mining	166	(2)
Women in Indian collieries	168	(4)
Conversations with research participants	172	(1)
Excerpts	173	(5)
Conclusion	178	(1)
References	179	(6)
PART III Gender in the Mining Economies
9 The Place of Women in Mining in the Cordillera Region, Philippines	185	(24)
Minerva Chaloping-March
Introduction	185	(1)
Mining in the Philippines	186	(2)
Women in the mining profession	188	(2)
Corporate large-scale mines in the Cordillera and women's work	190	(7)
Women's work in small scale mining	197	(4)
Relationship between large scale mining corporations and small scale operations	201	(1)
Prospects for women in the mining sector	202	(2)
References	204	(5)
10 Women in Artisanal and Small Scale Mining in Africa	209	(18)
Jennifer J. Hinton, Barbara E. Hinton and Marcello M. Veiga
Introduction	209	(1)
Women miners in Africa	210	(3)
Health and wellbeing of women miners	213	(1)
Age, sex and constitutional factors	214	(1)
Individual lifestyle factors	215	(1)
Social and community networks	215	(1)
Living and working conditions	216	(1)
Socioeconomic, cultural and environmental conditions	217	(3)
Conclusions	220	(2)
References	222	(5)
11 Women in the Mining Industry of Contemporary China	227	(28)
Linqing Yao
Introduction	227	(2)
Women at work in contemporary China	229	(6)
Employment in mining and quarrying and its change	235	(2)
Women's work in the mines	237	(12)
Conclusion	249	(2)
References	251	(4)
12 Women in Small Scale Gold Mining in Papua New Guinea	255	(10)
Geoff Crispin
Introduction	255	(2)
A brief overview of the small scale mining sector	257	(2)
Role of women in SSM	259	(3)
What can be done in assisting women in SSM in PNG	262	(1)
References	263	(2)
13 The Invisible Work of Women in the Small Mines of Bolivia	265	(24)
Els Van Hoecke
Introduction: The mining industry in Bolivia	265	(1)
Who are the women mineworkers in Bolivia?	266	(4)
Child labour	270	(2)
Housing: Mine camps	272	(1)
Equal rights, is that possible?	272	(1)
More responsibility, but less instruction	273	(1)
No respect for women's working areas	274	(1)
Equal earnings?	274	(1)
Sanitation, health, and safety	275	(1)
Cultural and social values: The importance of mine identity	276	(1)
Cultural characteristics	277	(1)
And the social attributes	278	(1)
The women's organization: A history of struggle and conviction	278	(2)
The change of women's role under neoliberal policy in 1985	280	(2)
The pathway to solution	282	(2)
References	284	(5)
PART IV Global Processes, Local Resistances
14 Gendered Labour in Peripheral Tropical Frontiers: Women, Mining and Capital Accumulation in Post-Development Amazonia	289	(18)
Jeannette Graulau
Introduction	289	(1)
Gendered labour in peripheral mining regions: Analytical propositions	290	(1)
Women's labour in gold mining in post-development Amazonia	291	(4)
Garimpagem and women's labour: Property, labour and production arrangements	295	(4)
Gender and capital accumulation in the mining frontier	299	(4)
References	303	(4)
15 Women Miners, Human Rights and Poverty	307	(22)
Ingrid Macdonald
Introduction: Women's rights as human rights	307	(2)
The barriers to realizing women's rights	309	(3)
The large scale mining companies and feminization of poverty	312	(1)
Human rights duties of mining companies	313	(1)
Oxfam Community Aid Abroad's focus on women and mining	314	(2)
The exclusion of women from large scale mining	316	(1)
Exclusion from decision-making	317	(1)
Hostile work hours	318	(1)
Fly in/fly out operations	319	(1)
Equal opportunity policies	320	(1)
Supply chain management and promoting 'flexibility'	321	(1)
The problems for women engaged in small scale mining	322	(2)
The way forward: Addressing the gender inequity of mining, what can we all do?	324	(1)
References	325	(4)
16 Roti do, ya goli do! (Give us bread, or give us bullets!): Stories of Struggles of Women Workers in Bhowra Colliery, India	329	(20)
Lindsay Barnes
Introduction	329	(2)
Methodology	331	(1)
Bhowra colliery	332	(1)
The good old days	332	(3)
The tiranga jhanda in the coalfields	335	(1)
Militancy in the Jharia coalfield	336	(3)
Meanwhile in Bhowra...	339	(1)
Trouble surfaces at 4B quarry	339	(2)
Village women fight back	341	(1)
The right to work	341	(3)
Kamins and rangdars	344	(1)
Conclusion	345	(1)
References	346	(1)
Appendix 1	347	(2)
17 Globalization and Women's Work in the Mine Pits in East Kalimantan, Indonesia	349	(22)
Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt
Introduction: Global mines, local lives	349	(4)
The research process	353	(2)
Globalization and women's labour in the mines	355	(2)
Women employees in KPC	357	(3)
Negotiating gender identities in the pits	360	(2)
Why have women in the mine pits?	362	(3)
Conclusion	365	(2)
References	367	(4)
Index	371