By Staff Reporter
HARARE – Women in Zimbabwe’s mining communities are being excluded from jobs and economic benefits while bearing the brunt of pollution, ill health, gender-based violence and sexual exploitation linked to the country’s green minerals boom, a new study has found.
The report by the Economic Justice for Women Project (EJWP), based on research in Buhera, Bikita, Goromonzi, Mberengwa and Mutoko, says women remain largely absent from formal employment and decision-making structures in the mining sector despite the country’s growing importance as a supplier of lithium and other critical minerals.
According to the study, women are often confined to low-paying and menial jobs, while lucrative positions in geology, engineering and management are dominated by men. In Goromonzi, none of the 36 licensed small-scale mining operations were owned by women.
Researchers said many women who lose farmland to mining activities are left without compensation or alternative sources of income, forcing them into precarious livelihoods.
The report also documented cases of sextortion in all five districts, with women reporting that access to jobs was sometimes used as leverage for sexual coercion. Key informants interviewed during the study described mining areas as “war zones for women”.
The study warned that such abuses, coupled with the absence of nearby reproductive health services, are increasing women’s vulnerability to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
Besides social risks, the report found that women are disproportionately exposed to environmental and health hazards associated with mining.
Dust from blasting and heavy truck traffic was linked to respiratory illnesses, headaches, chest pains, eye irritation and skin problems. Women also raised concerns over water contamination from mercury and cyanide, chemicals commonly associated with mining activities.
Senzeni Taruona from Buhera told researchers that dust generated by trucks had become a source of persistent headaches, chest pains and eye problems.
“there is a spike of TB-related cases in our area; at some point, a toddler lost eyesight due to this dust,” she said
The study found that environmental degradation has compounded the burden on women, who spend more time travelling longer distances to fetch water and firewood as water sources disappear or become polluted.
Women in Mutoko reported that blasting linked to granite mining had cracked homes, while others expressed anxiety and grief over the destruction of ancestral sites and fears about the effects of pollution on future generations.
The report further raised concerns about weak environmental oversight.
An official from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) cited in the study said the agency had only one vehicle to cover the whole of Manicaland Province, limiting its capacity to enforce environmental laws.
Researchers also said Environmental Impact Assessments were frequently manipulated and often excluded the voices of local communities, especially women.
The findings come as Zimbabwe seeks to increase value addition in the mining sector following the government’s decision to ban the export of raw strategic minerals.
The report argues that without deliberate measures to improve women’s access to mining licences, employment opportunities and community benefits, the country’s transition to a green economy risks deepening existing inequalities.
EJWP called for gender impact assessments, greater transparency in mineral licensing, stronger protection against gender-based violence and increased support for women seeking to participate in the mining value chain.
