Overview

Mining and Equitable Employment for Women in Lao PDR and Thailand

Overview

Mining is one of the key industries in many countries. The mining sector has considerable potential to improve quality of living, help reduce poverty, accelerate human development, promote economic growth, and support progress towards the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDG). International mining can also generate economic and social opportunities, directly through employment of workers, through taxes, rents, community development, royalty payments and social responsibility programs, and indirectly by contributing to economic growth and private sector development.

Management of mining impacts in developing countries, however, can be complex and challenging for all stakeholders. Extraction of natural resources such as mining is limited within a particular geographical area. Often its activities are conducted in or near communities and have direct or indirect impacts on community resources, capabilities and well-being, thus leading to a state of poverty, violent behavior, and resentment by communities towards businesses, and other forms of human deprivation such as water and air pollution, land access, farming and toxicity.

Moreover, mining has long been a male-dominated industry, which women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions. In order to achieve substantive gender equality, and the economic benefits of women in leadership, we need to understand how to increase the representation of women, and how to strengthen the pipeline of female talent in the mining industry, particularly in the developing countries.

Project Objectives

This project aims to investigate issues on socio-economic impacts of international mining industry on women in two developing countries in South East Asia, Laos and Thailand. With current rapid growth in mining development in Laos and Thailand, aid agencies want to understand more about how the activities of mining companies' affect women, particularly in regard to employment opportunities, gender equity, and health and safety issues.

Furthermore, this project will explore relationships among members of mining community, local government agencies, international organizations, and women association in Laos and Thailand, and factors contributing to success in empowering women and girls in the mining community. Key questions for this research project include:

1) In what ways are mining workplaces providing equitable employment for women?

2) What are the social and economic development impacts, particularly in rural areas, of women’s engagement in the mining industry?

3) What changes in policy and practice could be taken by the mining industry to support gender equity and safeguard women stakeholders?

Potential Outcomes

This project is a blend of academic and developmental research. The outcomes of the project will potentially lead to development in policies and practices for women in mining community in Laos and Thailand. Potential outcomes from this project include:

1) Reports for Policy Makers (including AusAID) in governance and International Mining;

2) Reports for Mining Community ;

3) Reports on Socio-Economic Impacts of the Project;

4) Public Seminars;

5) Conference Presentations and Publications;

6) Academic Publications in Community Development, International Management, and Asian Studies;

Country for Research

Lao PDR, Thailand

Research Partners

This project is supported by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) through AusAID Development Research Award Scheme 2012 (ADRAS).