ABSTRACT

This chapter reviews the literature that explores how resource development is gendered. Wages from jobs in high-paying natural resource sectors are a critical way that northern communities have sought to harness resource rents for local economies. Research about socio-cultural impacts has tended to focus on how the gendered nature of work in resource industries contributes to a shift in the economic activities of northern communities towards market activities. The traditional knowledge of women is an important factor in monitoring the effects of resource development. Impact Benefit Agreements (IBAs) and Socio-economic Agreements provide for income transfers directly to Indigenous governments. The introduction of Western cultural views and behaviours through contact with resource extraction industries and non-local workers can have negative impacts on local cultures. Many of the gendered effects of resource development emanate from the masculinized nature of resource industries and, consequently, the over representation of men in resource employment.