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info@wesego.org
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Women in Extractive Sector Gorvernance (WESEGO) is a coalition of Women, Women’s Groups and Organizations working to promote Gender Equality and empower women by increasing their participation in decision making processes and in extractive sector governance. WESEGO is working to promote gender equality and women’s rights in natural resource governance.
By recognizing the critical role that women can and should play in extractive governance and raising awareness of the many barriers that continue to stand in their way, WESEGO seeks to advance opportunities for women’s leadership in a sector where they often gain least for example through employment opportunities and bear the greatest cost of negative social and environmental impacts. WESEGO uses a multi-stakeholder approach to empower women and improve natural resource governance. WESEGO disseminates information on who is being given the right to mine or drill, the terms of those contracts, how much money companies pay and governments receive for natural resources, and what other impacts on women such as environmental and social effects and whether these effects are being monitored and managed.
To promote gender equality and empower women by increasing their participation in decision making processes and in extractive sector governance
Putting Women at the Centre of Extractive Sector Governance
To promote gender transparency in the extractive sector. This helps ensure all citizens benefit from extractive sector resources
Discoveries of minerals in East Africa have been celebrated by governments, oil companies and other stakeholders. As extractives activities commence in these localities, a number of negative impacts have been registered among the communities and more especially on women such as loss of land, environmental degradation, food insecurity, social disruption, forced evictions, unfair compensation and domestic violence among others. The environmental, air and associated health costs of the fossil fuels energy are significant.
Mines have produced emissions, dust and polluted local water supplies, air and soil, whilst refineries produce pollution when they process oil into a refined product. Women who manage natural resources and take care of their families and communities are the ones who bear most of these externalized impacts. WESEGO is working with key stakeholders in extractives like local governments, central government or state institutions such as parliaments, ministries of environment and minerals, and authorities, the private sector and civil society organizations to ensure prioritization of women’s rights and address issues facing women in extractives by ensuring that the laws already in place are implemented and stakeholders that do not follow the laws are held accountable. In this way, given their influence and support, WESEGO can work to address the negative impacts of extractives on women such as loss of land by ensuring that there is adequate compensation and resettlement.
The extractive industries remain a male-dominated industry as compared to the other industries in Uganda. It is important to involve women in it because women have the same “right to development” as men, so if extractive industries diminish their access to economic and social development, this human right has been violated. Since women are also often the linchpins of their communities, with key roles in ensuring the health, nutrition, education and security of those around them, investing in women and assuring their participation is not only key for their own development, but also for the socioeconomic development of their families and communities.
Is helping guide local governments, the private sector, civil society organizations and other stakeholders in developing policy, programmes and legislation that will do a better job of addressing challenges facing women affected by and hoping to benefit from the extractive industries sector.
If extractives resources are to benefit all citizens, both women and men need to be included in the sector’s governance and have equal access to employment opportunities. Yet the extractive industries are disproportionately governed and operated by men, and sector-specific policies that take gender into account are relatively scarce. Moreover, women and girls bear a disproportionate share of the negative social, economic and environmental impacts of the sector. A recent analysis suggests that women in mineral resource-dependent communities often experience greater wealth and rights inequality than those in communities that are not resource-dependent. The Covid-19 pandemic has deepened gender inequality in the industry, with movement restrictions and employment cuts affecting women who hold the majority of informal and lower paying jobs.
Ensuring equal participation in decision making on the extractive sector is critical to addressing inequalities and ensuring that the sector is managed in the interest of all citizens. By recognizing and promoting the participation of women in the extractive sector as employees, business owners, community members and decision makers on resource governance governments and companies can ensure that resources are managed more equitably.
The social, economic and environmental impacts of the extractive industries are often differently experienced by men and women. Women are more vulnerable to the negative impacts of extractive activities and less likely to have influence over how they are managed. For example, women may be excluded from community consultations and decisions on the allocation of extractive revenues. They may have reduced access to job opportunities.
WESEGO is working to tracking female employment in the extractive sector. This is central to understanding how the benefits of the sector are being shared. Employment data can be used to inform strategies to encourage equal employment. Likewise, assessing the impact of corporate social expenditure on women can help direct this expenditure equitably. Enabling women to have access to information relating to revenues from the sector will help them better understand how extractive operations may affect their communities and how the benefits are being shared.
WESEGO recognizes that women’s participation in the extractives is necessary for the achievement of sustainable development. WESEGO is working to ensure that extractives industry companies are increasingly committed to integrating gender equality and women’s economic empowerment into aspects of their operations.
Advocating for efforts towards achieving improved gender balance in the Extractive sector.
WESEGO conducts research on gender and the extractive industries to get answers for the following questions
Based on data gathered, WESEGO conducts actions that advocates for industry efforts towards achieving improved gender balance in the sector.
WESEGO recognizes the critical role that women can and should play in extractive governance, and raising awareness of the many barriers that continue to stand in their way. WESEGO seeks to advance opportunities for women’s leadership in a sector where they often gain least (for example, through employment opportunities) and bear the greatest cost of negative social and environmental impacts. WESEGO also implements actions to explore opportunities for increasing women’s effective participation and voice in decision making processes about whether and how extractive revenues are allocated in local and national budgets.