ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to contribute to the literature on gender and extractive industries by bringing it into conversation with emerging research on the mining-mobility nexus. Specifically, it uses a case study of a mining project in the northern Peruvian Andes (Rio Tinto’s La Granja copper project in the region of Cajamarca) to explore how mining development fostered the spatial mobility and autonomy of women living in, or connected to, the project area. The analysis concludes that, while women remained marginalized in absolute terms, they experienced some increase in spatial mobility, which in turn enhanced their capacity to act autonomously in physical, economic, and decision-making spheres. This chapter addresses the factors that enabled women to make the changes and the constraints they encountered in the process.
