Mining and women in northwest Mexico: a feminist political ecology approach to impacts on rural livelihoods

Abstract

Women’s participation in large-scale mining (LSM) has been increasing in Mexico and worldwide; however, few comprehensive studies exist on the socioeconomic effects of mining on women depending on the specific roles they play in this activity. The objective of this study was to analyze, from a feminist political ecology perspective, the effects of mining on women in a rural community in Sonora State, in arid northwest Mexico, a region with important participation of LSM in the country. For this purpose, we developed a mixed methods approach combining literature review on gender and LSM, semistructured in-depth interviews, and analysis of secondary government data. Most literature on women and mining treats them conceptually as a homogeneous social group or focuses on only one role women play in mining. We address this gap by identifying several roles women can play in their interactions with the mining sector and then analyzing and comparing the effects of mining associated with these distinctive roles. In doing so, we unravel the gendered complexities of mining and highlight the socioecological contradictions embedded in these dynamics for individual women who are faced with significant trade-offs. Mining can provide economic and professional opportunities for women of varying educational and socioeconomic levels in otherwise impoverished and landless rural households. At the same time, women are unable to, as one interviewee phrased it, “break the glass ceiling even if using a miner’s helmet,” especially in managerial positions. Extraction of natural resources in the community is accompanied by the extraction of social capital and personal lives of miners. We give voice to the social–ecological contradictions lived by women in these multiple roles and offer potential insights both for addressing gender-based inequities in mining and for avenues toward collective action and empowerment.

Whose Development? How Women Living Near the Yanacocha Mine, Peru, Envision Potential Futures

“…A growing body of literature addresses the gendered dimensions of natural resource extraction and natural resource‐related conflicts. Work considering the gendered consequences of mining argues that gendered responsibilities and expectations mean women carry more burdens and receive fewer benefits than men when a large‐scale mining operation opens in their area (Jenkins, 2014; Lutz‐Ley and Buechler, 2020). Work on women activists has shown how they deploy gendered norms and expectations creatively to inform and legitimise their activism (Jenkins, 2015; Franceschet, Piscopo and Thomas, 2016; Grieco, 2016).…”

Male employment and female intra-household decision-making: a Mexican gold mining case study

“…For many centuries, superstition has kept Latin American women away from mining as it was believed that if a woman went near a mine, it would become jealous, hide its wealth and cause catastrophes (Arcos et al 2018 ). Lutz-Ley and Beuchler ( 2020 ) additionally note that because mining takes place in remote areas, miners are subject to long journeys, uncomfortable settings, and risky conditions. For these reasons, the mining industry has typically been male-dominated.…”

“…3 Tolonen’s ( 2018 ) findings from her cross-country study on Sub-Saharan Africa may thus not be generalizable to countries like Mexico in the Latin American region. In addition, since more indigenous women in Mexico have been documented to live in mining communities and are simultaneously poorer and subject to traditional gender stereotypes, understanding the impact of economic booms in male-dominated sectors like mining is important for enhancing and facilitating gender equality efforts among these particular demographic groups (Lutz-Ley and Buechler 2020 ).…”

Transition From Subsistence Agriculture to Rubber Plantations in Northern Laos: Analysis of Household Livelihood Strategies by Ethnicity and Gender

“…Feminist political ecologists analyze the gendered access to resources as well as agencies that women exercise under changing circumstances. For example, Lutz-Ley and Buechler (2020) studied the effect of women’s positionalities in their relationship to mining in Northwest Mexico, analyzing the different benefits and trade-offs that different women experience. In Laos, the social interface that is created changes women’s positionalities and produces changing power axes with the government, with other family members, and with the Chinese companies that come to invest in Laos.…”