Mining in focus
Secrets of an underground
sisterhood
There is a clear
inability to fully
understand the
identities of female
mine workers in
an underground
context. Recent
research by
Dr Asanda Benya
provides one of the
best-yet accounts
of this complex
subject, writes
Nicola Theunissen.
[18] MINING MIRROR MARCH 2018
H
igh-level discussion panels at
mining and sustainability
conferences often and
eagerly discuss the women-in-
mining phenomenon. All sides of the
spectrum, from academics to mine
executives, have their say about the
challenges and the opportunities.
The topic unleashes layered viewpoints
from both a social theory and a business
perspective. However, only one group
can speak with authority about the
challenges and the opportunities: the
women who do the work daily.
Dr Asanda Benya has contributed
to one of South Africa’s most
comprehensive studies in this field,
adding a rich body of knowledge
to a highly unexplored subject. Her
PhD thesis from Wits, Women in
mining: occupational culture and
gendered identities in the making,
used ethnography and participant
observation to traverse the mining sector’s
complex world of gender identity.
“For ten and a half months, between
2011 and 2012, I worked in the mines
and lived with mine workers. During this
period, I completely submerged myself
into the world of mine workers to get
an in-depth understanding of the ways
they understand themselves and navigate
the masculine mining world,” she says.
The research aimed to describe
how women view themselves
within an occupation traditionally
characterised by gender exclusion.
Benya is a qualified winch operator.
For her research, she worked in
this position as well as a malayisha
and pikinini (informal assistant for
two female miners). She worked
primarily in platinum and chrome
operations that deployed conventional
and mechanised methods.
The rise of the female mine
worker
Apartheid excluded all women from
underground work and reserved