Poverty, adaptation and vulnerability: An assessment of women's work in Ghana's artisanal gold mining sector

• Published in: Area (London 1969) 2020-09, Vol.52 (3), p.617-625
• Main Authors: Kumah, Cynthia, Hilson, Gavin, Quaicoe, Ishmael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: artisanal and small‐scale mining; Extraction; Gold mines & mining; informal sector; livelihoods; Mining; Mining industry; Operators; Poverty; sub‐Saharan Africa; Vulnerability; Women
• ISSN: 0004-0894; 1475-4762
• DOI: 10.1111/area.12639

This paper contributes to the debate on the link between poverty and artisanal and small‐scale mining (ASM) – low‐tech, labour‐intensive mineral extraction and processing – in sub‐Saharan Africa. It specifically seeks to advance discussion on the idea that throughout the region, the sector's operators are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty. Drawing on ongoing research being conducted on marginalised women engaged in ASM in Ghana, an attempt is made to further nuance the “poverty trap‐ASM” narrative. In the context of sub‐Saharan Africa, debates on this issue should focus on the challenges faced by marginalised groups such as women, in particular how their growing dependence on monies earned from the sector for their livelihoods has increased their vulnerability. This paper contributes to the debate on the link between poverty and artisanal and small‐scale mining (ASM) – low‐tech, labour‐intensive mineral extraction and processing – in sub‐Saharan Africa. It specifically seeks to advance debates on how many of the sector's operators are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty. In doing so, it draws on ongoing research being conducted on marginalised women engaged in ASM in Ghana.