Bashizi, Fiz Mussa

Geenen, Sara

Kabilambali, Gracia

Vanlerberghe, Elisa

Abstract: Mining activities have particular effects on women's health, but these effects have hardly been documented in the literature. This article fills the gap by focusing on women's lived experiences in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). Based on interviews with more than 150 women working in the mines in the city of Kamituga, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), we illustrate how women feel the impact of their work on their bodies and reflect on how this impact could be mitigated. We analyse women's lived experiences in terms of the most common infectious diseases, as well as physical and psycho-social trauma. We argue that ASGM has gendered effects on the workforce's health and that, to better protect female workers, we need to take a holistic approach to their health problems and address structural constraints

Women who "age too fast" : female work, bodies and health in the gold mines of Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

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