Gender Equality in the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) Sector in Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Region

An issues paper commissioned by WLSA Zimbabwe with Ford Foundation support, examining the legal and policy frameworks governing the ASM sector across SADC member states through a gender lens. It reviews mining laws in eight countries, identifies gaps in protections for women, and documents the multidimensional challenges women face in ASM — from wage inequality and sexual violence to cultural taboos and land dispossession. Comparative lessons from East and West Africa are incorporated to identify best practices.

• Women constitute 40–60% of the ASM workforce in parts of Africa yet earn roughly a quarter of what men earn
• ASM mining laws across SADC are largely gender-neutral on paper but discriminatory in practice, with no explicit protections against SGBV in mining contexts
• Cultural taboos (e.g. exclusion during menstruation) limit women's access to higher-value mining activities
• Zimbabwe's Mines and Minerals Act is outdated and misaligned with the Constitution's gender balance provisions
• Women face compounded disadvantages: limited land rights, no access to credit, exclusion from licensing processes, and exposure to mercury hazards

• Governments should align mining laws with international standards and embed human rights impact assessments in environmental review processes
• Civil society should lobby for harmonisation of inheritance and mining laws, and expand SGBV programming in mining communities
• Mining companies should adopt and enforce zero-tolerance sexual harassment policies
• Kenya's Mining Act (2016) is highlighted as a regional model worth replicating