ABSTRACT
Sub-Saharan Africa is richly endowed with natural resources which account for more than 30% of the world’s total mineral reserves. The mining sector is a significant export revenue earner and a large source of employment for resource-rich African countries. Mining remains a male-dominated sector even though women continue to enter the labour force more than they did a decade ago. Despite this, empirical evidence point to the fact that women, in comparison to men, are yet to fully benefit economically or socially from the artisanal, small-scale or large-scale mining occurring in Africa. We recognise that the experiences of men and women vary in scale and depth across the diverse regions and cultures of Africa; the types of mining work; the nature of mining operations; and the degree of formality in the mining sector. This contextual nature of mining present numerous challenges, opportunities and risks to gender equality in sub-Saharan Africa. This calls for a more gendered, integrated, holistic and collective approach for the mining sector to contribute to the sustainable development of Africa.
