ABSTRACT
This chapter describes and discusses the lives of Papua New Guinean women working in mining on Lihir. It draws attention to that small group of women with post-secondary qualifications who work in the mining industry as employees of mining companies. The lack of change in notions of women's role as food providers is reflected in the fact that even women who are in full-time employment grow substantial gardens to feed their families. Most of the women have completed post-secondary training in business or administrative studies while there are several who trained nursing sisters. In one instance a woman was helping to support 15 children as well as her parents – thus the economic unit was effectively the same as for the Lihirian women workers. The chapter also draws a few tentative comparisons between Lihirian women working in mining with women workers elsewhere in Papua New Guinea.
