Mining in focus
Underground mining jobs historically were reserved for male workers,
and the changerooms at most mines are still not ‘women friendly’.
One interviewee explains how she often
swears when wearing overalls and a hard
hat, which she does not do otherwise.
Hard hats symbolise the transition
into hardy mine workers and so does
underwear. “You cannot wear the same
underwear on surface and underground,”
the women reveal in interviews.
Underground shifts imply switching
from very ragged underwear, called
mgodi, to feminine ‘lacy’ underwear. This
untold code among female mine workers
uncovers what Benya describes as a way
women distance and mark their feminine
bodies from their underground bodies.
The process of workers monitoring
each other’s bodies, including hands,
arms, size, and body fat percentage,
is a “profoundly gendered process”,
she writes. It allows the mine and
fellow workers to “classify discipline
and produce a mining body”.
“For example, women’s bodies could
be fit and firm, but if their hands did not
resemble those associated with mining
hands, the whole body was rejected and
treated as non-ideal. Male bodies, on the
other hand, were presumed ideal and thus
not subjected to the same disciplinary
power as women,” Benya says.
Female mine workers as
providers
The reality of female mine workers
cannot be separated from their larger
role in society, where they have to
reconcile their domestic roles as
mothers and wives with their workplace
identities as underground miners.
The women in Benya’s interviews
were, in most cases, the main
breadwinners, directly supporting more
than one household — sometimes
as many as eight to 14 people.
She gives biographical accounts of
some women’s stories, demonstrating
the struggles of finding identity:
•
Tee was able to leave a life of
domestic violence behind when she
found alternative income through
mining; a job that saved her. “I
don’t have to worry about what I’m
going to eat or wear ... I don’t have
to depend on boyfriends,” is Tee’s
portrayal of a world underground.
Bonang and Maria have different
stories. They are ashamed of
having to work as malayishas,
but are confronted with the
otherwise limited options in
South Africa’s frail economy.
•
Katlego, who is respected by
her mining team, is mocked
by her in-laws because she
does not have children.
Most female mine workers were
from families and communities
where the unemployment rate is
high. Their financial responsibilities
outweighed their earnings and,
as a result, they often had to
supplement their income by selling
Tupperware or beauty products.
•
Upskilling means empowering
In a similar current study, Sean Jones,
managing director of the Artisan
Training Institute (ATI), aims to
understand what triggers subtle and
explicit discrimination towards women
in traditionally segregated occupations.
MARCH 2018 MINING MIRROR
[21]