‘Fight discrimination against women in mining sector’
The Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners (GNASSM) has called for a collaborative effort between the government and the private sector to fight the discrimination against female mine workers in the country.
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According to the association, women who were in their menstrual period were prevented from going their own mining concessions in most communities.
The National Co-ordinator for Women in Small-Scale Mining, the women's wing of GNASSMA, Mrs Amina Tahiru, who made the statement, said, "Some chiefs and people of several mining communities believe that women who are in their period and go to their concessions cause gold to disappear and must therefore be barred."
She was speaking in Accra at the national induction workshop on the Gender and Mining in Africa Project sponsored by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
The project, which is being carried out in five African countries, will facilitate research in the mining sector to provide evidence-based policy recommendations to address the challenges that the small-scale female miners face.
Uphill task
Mrs Tahiru stated that women in the small-scale mining sector had not been taken seriously for many years, making "us to work twice as hard as our male counterparts to succeed."
"Women in small-scale mining face an uphill task because we have to prove ourselves capable of the job before we are taken seriously," she said.
According to her, mining was an expensive enterprise so many women found it extremely difficult to raise funds to venture into that sector.
Balancing work with family
Mrs Tahiru, who is the Managing Director of Zenon Investment, a mining firm, said many women in the mining sector were mothers and also breadwinners of their families so sometimes they had to take their children along to the remote mining areas.
"Our women use the proceeds from their business to improve the education and well-being of their immediate and extended families. Buying big cars and chasing the opposite sex are not our priority. We just want to survive," Mrs Tahiru added.
Obtaining licences
She expressed worry over the long period it took women to acquire mining licences from the Ghana Minerals Commission.
According to her, most times, before the commission gave licences to women, "our concessions would have been taken over by illegal miners."
She therefore called on the commission to help address the challenge by lessening the frustration that the small-scale female miners had to endure.
Nana Oye Lithur
In an address read for her, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, said the mining sector employed a relatively high labour force, including women who served as operators of the heavy hauling trucks, senior mining engineers, community health co-ordinators and community development officers.
However, she added, less attention had been given to the few women in the sector, blaming the situation on the lack of adequate statistics and information which would guide policy makers in the planning process.
Social taboos
The National Lead Researcher on Gender and Mining in Africa, Professor Richard Amankwah, said social taboos in most mining communities had hindered the involvement of many women in legal small-scale mining.
He, therefore, expressed optimism that the UNECA Project would empower the women in small-scale mining to do it better and to improve their standards of living and also inspire others who had the intention of going into mining.