Scratching the surface. Exploring women’s roles in artisanal and small-scale gold mining towns in Tanzania.

Promotor: Steven Van Wolputte. (Funded by VLIR)

This thesis contributes to an understanding of the different roles women play in artisanal and small-scale gold mining towns. Fluctuations in the stock market can be attributed, to a certain degree, to investor sentiment. This "speculative trade", as it is called, has profound consequences both on a global and a local level and lies at the heart of the gold market. As a result of the global financial crisis for example, many countries now rush to increase their gold reserves. But not only nation-states or investor corporations are attracted to the gold trade. Far away from big financial centers like New York, London or Beijing, millions of men and women try to eke out a living by digging up the precious metals and minerals. This doctoral research focuses on miner families in small-scale gold mining settlements in Tanzania. It pays specific attention to women’s livelihood strategies, and the rapid unfolding new family structures they make part of. Remarkably, though, only scant attention has been paid to women living in mining communities. Often, moreover, the few existing analyses confine themselves to bland platitudes about the role of women in “male” environments often discussed in terms of prostitution. This doctoral thesis, wants to move beyond this stereotype. It challenges the male hegemony in the mines and highlights women’s agency. Against a background of uncertainty, inequality and changing gender relations, this thesis perceives artisanal gold mining as a viable livelihood strategy for women and their families.

Key words:

Women in mining, female miners, artisanal and small-scale gold mining, gold, Tanzania