Table 8 Hazards Confronting Women and Children

Women are often affected disproportionately. Estimates suggest up to 50% of miners are female in some African artisanal and small scale mines [71]. Because they are mainly involved in processing or transporting ore, they may not be recognized as miners or included in the statistics [72]. Often mining is experienced as a women’s sole way of gaining financial independence. It is reported that women engage in informal and illegal activities more frequently than men [70]. As workers in mines, or as those responsible for processing the ore, women are exposed to all hazards described above. Women’s reproductive health suffers and maternal health decreases. In ASGM, smelting is commonly seen as the women’s task and results in exposure to mercury fumes. This exposure can span from prenatal to adulthood, with adverse neurological effects on whole generations in working as artisanal and small scale miners [73]. Additionally, women are at a high risk due to isolation in mining settings and physical and sexual abuse. Sexual transmitted diseases (STDs) are frequently reported among women. As a result of structural gender inequalities women benefit from even fewer OHS services than men [10, 11, 64, 74].

Child labor in ASM is common and requires specific attention. According to the ILO [75] about one million children worldwide are working in mines. Sometimes up to half of the miners are below the age of 15. These children work in “life-threatening conditions, subject to violence, extortion and intimidation” [75], not able to seize some of their fundamental human rights. Since life chances are largely defined by early life years, growing up in mining communities and later working in mines diminishes an individual’s potential drastically. Firstly, weak maternal health determines an infant’s start to life and, thereby, his or her later health state. Children laborers have reduced access to education and, hence, few chances to escape from the hazardous settings. The biological hazards described above present a particular risk to the still developing children. Mercury can affect fetuses and children extensively and adverse health effects are reported. Malnutrition and adverse musculoskeletal consequences are described to occur among child miners [71, 76, 77]. Because of the high mobility of ASM communities, the presence of many young men who are without their families, the daily flow of cash, and the high rates of alcohol and substance abuse, prostitution is part and parcel of mining life [46, 78]. Like their mothers, girls are exposed to sexual and gender-based violence and exploitation, often resulting in pregnancies and STDs. Boys are not excluded from forced child prostitution [79]. In addition, substance abuse is reported among child miners. Financial incentives and peer pressure are usually the reasons children engage in mining activities [11, 65, 66, 70].