Position Paper on Gender Justice and the Extractive Industries

There is growing recognition that persistent structural gender inequality within the extractive industries (EI) continues to undermine women’s rights and the development potential of the sector. Women face systemic discrimination in all phases of an extractive industries project and all along the EI value chain.

Entrenched gender bias not only prevents women from engaging with and accessing the economic benefits of extractive industries, but manifests in how companies and governments engage with communities at all stages of project activities. Gender-blind policies and practices in community consultation and decision-making processes give rise to the systematic exclusion of women and a silencing of women’s perspectives, agendas, and interests in relation to EI projects.

This paper outlines Oxfam’s position on gender justice in the context of extractive industries. It describes some of the causes and consequences of the EI sector’s gendered impacts, and it summarizes Oxfam’s recommendations to mining, oil, and gas companies, to governments, and to international financial institutions for achieving better gender equality outcomes and advancing women’s rights.