Premium
Poverty, adaptation and vulnerability: An assessment of women's work in Ghana's artisanal gold mining sector
Author(s) -
Kumah Cynthia,
Hilson Gavin,
Quaicoe Ishmael
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
area
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1475-4762
pISSN - 0004-0894
DOI - 10.1111/area.12639
Subject(s) - vulnerability (computing) , livelihood , poverty , context (archaeology) , work (physics) , political science , economic growth , narrative , sociology , development economics , geography , economics , agriculture , engineering , mechanical engineering , computer security , archaeology , computer science , linguistics , philosophy
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.