Artisanal Mining and Gender: case of Mongolia P. Bolormaa, M&E officer SDC funded “Sustainable, Artisanal, Small Scale Mining” Project

Outline Overview of Gender issues in Mongolia Gender and ASM

Gender and development Global Human Development Report 1995 argued that development, if not engendered, is endangered. If women cannot benefit from development and progress, it is an unfair and discriminatory process. Limiting opportunities of women in social and economic life hinders society’s overall progress.

Gender Equality in Mongolia National Program for the Advancement of Women” (1996) National Program on Gender Equality (2002) Parliament resolution (2005) on MGDs Mongolia Goal 3: Ensuring Gender equality to improve their social, professional and cultural level of Mongolian women and to promote their participation in the development progress.

Overview GDI : 0.644, i.e. no substantial disparities between men and women Women - 50.4 % men -49.6 % of Mongolia’s population Average life expectancy: women ~ 70 years; men ~ 64 years 75 % of women aged 8-22 years study in schools less boys aged between 8-22 years study in schools Women earn income equal to 2/3 of the income earned by men Rank: 94th out of 144 countries in the world

Education Percentage of the population with educational level higher than complete secondary among population aged 15 and over

Gender inequality in the education sector Reasons More investment in girls’ education Imbalance in sex ratio among teachers Livestock privatization Work in informal sector Consequences Ability to access information is limited Increased family divorces, alcohol use, crimes Less opportunity to find jobs Less family, social and political participation

Gender inequality in employment Women work in low-paid, low-skilled positions for long hours in the informal sector. Private companies tend not to employ women because they have to be offered more favorable social welfare conditions than men.

Gender inequality in political sector Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) - 0.429 Mongolia ranked 62nd out of 78 countries. The low level of GEM demonstrates low participation of women in policy and decision making and their limited authority. In 2002, an index that measures gender equality of men and women in opportunities in economic and political areas

Gender and violence Causes: Difficulties of daily living, Unemployment, Poverty Alcoholism Note: every third women and every second child in Mongolia is subject to some kind of violence, and every tenth woman is beaten. Consequences: Deep psychological crisis (even suicide) Undermines the social status Reduces participation in community work, Loss of self-confidence

Gender and ASM A livelihoods strategy adopted primarily in rural areas Artisanal mining is a poverty driven informal activity exploiting gold, coal and fluorspar It provides the income for over 100,000 miners over 100 places of 80 sums, 19 aimags. Due to a lack of legal and policy instruments these miners are marginalized and living at the border of the society. Mining represents the most promising income opportunity. However, ASM activities are often viewed negatively by government, big companies, environmentalists and others. The concern range from the use of child labour and the potential for environmental damage (use of mercury and cyanide) to the use of ASM revenue to finance conflicts, the social disruption, the high incidence of prostitution, and the possible spread of STDs, HIV/AIDS where migrant workers are involved. Most of these miners –men, women, or children are rural and poor. From a livelihood perspective, for many people it never provides more than a subsistence wage, so its actual contribution is often limited.

Artisanal miners

Characteristics of ASM activities Use of rudimentary techniques Hazardous working environment Low standards of occupational safety: accidents, injures….. High health impact: dust, noise, extreme cold, poor water sanitation, insecure food, use of toxic chemicals Highly disorganized, outside of legal environment Significant impact on environment: river and air pollution, soil, waste …….

Case: Zaamar sum of Tuv aimag Artisanal miners: men, women and children working in groups of 4-7 people Age : 18-55 years old Total number: ~ 12 000; number of women ~ 5000 Education level: University degree -12 % college degree - 19 %, high school education - 38% secondary school education – 27 % primary school education – 4%. 27.6 % - former herders, 9.2 % - formers farmers, 31.6 % former government officials, 27.6 % unemployed people

Men and women’s roles in ASM Women and men do equal work in mining Women play major role in informal mining: leader of the group, conflict mediator…. Ger shops and many small businesses are managed by the women.

Multiple roles of women Mining activities: Ore sack transportation Gold separation using water Initial digging Up lifting ore sacks from 10 -20 m deep holes Working inside deep 10-20 m holes Working inside deep vertical tunnels Mercury usage Crushing / milling / sluicing Housewives Food preparation Fetching water Wood preparation Child care Health care of members of households Business Ger shop owners

Needs of artisanal miners Legal environment – 79 % Food and water security – 61 % Good protective clothing – 45 % Health services – 39 % Electricity – 31 % Education – 23 % Access to information – 21 % Ref: The living conditions of the informal miners in Zaamar, survey report 2005

Conclusion Artisanal and Small –scale mining issues are important and complex; Therefore, governments and development agencies should take the leading role in addressing them. It is important function of Government to mainstream in policies and programmes community development approach

Steps to be taken Adopt gender sensitive approach because women are: - of fundamental importance in terms of food and health security, - critical to community stability, cohesiveness and morale, - have a demonstrated capacity to drive POSITIVE CHANGE. Develop collective capacity of miners to contribute to sustainable development; Establish good relationship between miners and other stakeholders.

Recommendations To create an enabling legal environment for artisanal miners Capacity development programmes for artisanal miners: - Educational program on occupational safety issues - Environmental awareness programs - Safe mercury use awareness programmes - Health education programmes Mining community development programme

Thank you for your attention Thank you for your attention! For feedback, questions: E-mail: bolormaap@sam.mn