Background to the research

Mining in Indonesia

The Indonesian economy is heavily reliant on the extraction and export of mineral and other natural resources. Indonesia is also a country where conflicts between the state and local communities over the exploitation of natural resources have assumed critical proportions. This type of conflict is especially marked in the large- and small-scale mining sectors because local communities experience high levels of social disruption and environmental damage. In addition, three quarters of the workforce in the mining sector consists of migrant workers from other parts of the country.

The recent process of democratisation and decentralisation, coupled with evidence of past social and environmental injustice, has encouraged the growth of a strong anti-mining lobby in the ranks of civil society, which has put pressure on the country's leading mining companies to improve their operations and performance. Meanwhile, conventional gender norms governing the behaviour of Indonesian women have been changing over the past decade, and 'the working woman' has come to occupy an increasingly important place in the public domain. Community development or empowerment programs therefore need to move beyond the assumption that planning for men by men will automatically improve the condition of women.

The significance of this research lies in the fact that a male-dominated mining industry is only now beginning to realise that its own community development or empowerment programs will not be effective unless they simultaneously move from a 'needs-based' to a ' rights-based' approach and recognise the crucial role of gender in this transformation.