By Nyasha Dube – As we commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day slated for the 8th of March, we take a look at women with disabilities in mining areas of Zvishavane and Mberengwa.
This year’s them is Choose To Challenge, and we choose to challenge the loopholes in natural resources governance, as women with disabilities have long been excluded in decision making processes affecting their wellbeing.
Zvishavane and Mberengwa thrive on mining. There’s mining of all scales,large scale, medium scale, small scale as well as gold panning.
The survival of most women with disabilities in these areas are centred around mining, and because of the COVID19 pandemic and lockdown, some of the women have found themselves with no source of income.
The women are often dependent on buying and selling gold, chrome or selling goods to artisanal miners.
Women with disabilities have always been disadvantaged even prior to the lockdown, first because they are women in a male dominated industry, and secondly because of their disabilities. They also lack access to spaces where they can report unfair treatment from their able bodied counterparts.
Some of the challenges faced by women with disabilities in mining spaces include:
- Corruption
- Having their mining claims repossessed
- Gender Based Violence
- Verbal abuse from artisanal miners
- Non payment for their goods
- Conflict over space
- Lack of knowledge on where they can get help
- Language barriers for those with hearing or aural impairments
- Lack of security and abuse from the status quo
- Miner-farmer conflicts
- The list is endless
A lot needs to be done to address these challenges and create a safe space for women with disabilities so they can equally benefit from the mineral resources at their disposal.
The first step would be to ensure that women with disabilities are well represented in decision making processes concerning their welfare. There’s need to set up a Women with disabilities board or committee that hypes the challenges they are facing, and therefore ensure that there are friendly services and facilities in all institutions.
There’s also need to pass the Mines and Minerals bill into a law, and ensure that it caters for the needs of persons with disabilities.
Legally formalising the small scale mining sector will also help deal away with double issuance of claims and corruption.