Resumen

PRETORIUS, Anmar. Women in mining towns: A case study from Emalahleni. Tydskr. geesteswet. [online]. 2019, vol.59, n.4, pp.657-670. ISSN 2224-7912.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2224-7912/2019/v59n1a15.

In South Africa, the role of women is increasingly recognised and more and more women are appointed in prominent positions of the public sector. Despite these trends, certain groups of women can still be regarded as vulnerable. The role of women in mining towns is a prominent theme in Australian literature. Without denying the positive economic impact of mining, these studies also focus on the social impact of mining on communities. Lockie et al. (2009) describes the consequences of an influx of "strangers" into mining towns. The communities experience increased levels of crime and lose their earlier sense of belonging. According to Hijkowicz et al. (2011), increased mining activity leads to increased inequality in communities. Some reap the benefits of new and high-paying job opportunities, while others miss out if they are not employed by the mines. The position of women in mining towns is the focus of Sharma (2010). Her findings indicate that women do not benefit from mining activities to the same extent as men do.Their health suffers, and they are deemed to be on a lower level than men. Women are therefore dependent on their male partners both socially and economically. The South African literature, however, until now has mainly ignored the topic of women in mining towns.This article aims to fill this void by focusing on the mining town of Emalahleni. Emalahleni is situated in the province of Mpumalanga. The economy of the town is dependent on coal mining. As a logical outcome, the discovery of coal soon led to the establishment of coal powered power stations as well as steel mills. In 2015, mining contributed 59.8% to the economy of the Emalahleni Local Municipality (Emalahleni Local Municipality 2017). Similar trends as observed in Australian mining towns present themselves here: a growing population, an increased ratio of male to female residents and an unemployment rate (of 23.2%) below the national rate (of 26.5%) in 2015 (Emalahleni Local Municipality 2017); male unemployment stood at 19.2% and female unemployment at 29.8% (StatsSA 2016). Turning to the environment, both air pollution and water pollution are the not so unexpected consequences of increased mining activity. The empirical analysis is based on three different kinds of interviews conducted during 2017. Qualitative interviews with local stakeholders identified the following issues in the community: high levels of domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse, school children acting as drug mules, health problems due to air pollution, high levels of unemployment amongst women, as well as low expectations of obtaining jobs in future amongst school girls. Two separate structured questionnaires were used in obtaining information from individual residents and Emalahleni households. Information resulting from the questionnaires indicates that women from this specific mining town can indeed be regarded as vulnerable - both in terms of their economic status and their perceptions regarding quality of life as expressed by themselves. Compared to their male counterparts, female residents of Emalahleni have a lower labour force participation rate, and a concomitant higher unemployment rate, while those who do receive a monthly salary earn much less than male employees in similar or comparable jobs. Moreover, women are mostly excluded from the lucrative job opportunities in the mining sector: 60% of interviewed males are employed by mines, while only 2% of interviewed females could confirm the same. Women in Emalahleni are therefore considered to be economically vulnerable. Based on a seven-point scale, female partners of male mining employees were generally found to be less satisfied with their quality of life than females heading their own households. Considering specific aspects of their lives, female heads of households are more concerned about domestic violence, the negative consequences of air pollution, and the lack of increase in household welfare. It is, therefore, concluded that women living in Emalahleni can be regarded as vulnerable based on opinions they hold about their quality of life.

Palabras clave : mining towns; women; Emalahleni; vulnerable; perceptions; labour force participation rate; unemployment; pollution; crime; domestic violence.

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