Skip to main content

Gendered Dimensions of Resource Extraction: The Place of Women

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Resource Curse or Cure ?

Part of the book series: CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance ((CSEG))

Abstract

This chapter examines two core dimensions of women’s gendered experiences of mining in Australia and more specifically in Western Australia (WA). First, the chapter explores what has been and continues to be women’s principal relationship to mining encapsulated in the social and cultural identity of the ‘mining wife’ and, more recently, ‘fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) wife’. Second, the chapter addresses the fraught emergence of women as mineworkers. As the research presented in this chapter makes clear, the human cost of developmentalism was and continues to be deeply gendered.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    As Eveline and Booth (2002) also point out, this civilising task has a wider social history in Australia stretching back to white settlement.

  2. 2.

    Evens so, as she pointed out, in a 400 strong workforce there were only 30 single women (Bulbeck 1985: 102).

References

  • ABS (2013) Towns of the mining boom, ABS 4102 – Australian Social Trends, April 2013 [Cat. No. 4102.0]. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  • Agora Tire (nd) Lower your truck maintenance costs: women earthmover truck operators are showing the way. http://www.agoratire.com. Accessed 2 July 2013

  • Alexander I (1988) Western Australia: the resource state. Aust Geogr 19(1):117–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Australian Government (2012) Job outlook: other stationary plant operators. http://joboutlook.gov.au. Accessed 2 July 2013

  • Barrett L (2013) Calling all women. Mining News Premium. www.miningnewpremium.net. Accessed 2 July 2013

  • Bryant L, Jaworski K (2011) Gender, embodiment and place: the gendering of skills shortages in the Australian mining and food and beverage processing industries. Hum Relat 64(10):1345–1367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bulbeck C (1985) Living and working in the Pilbara. In: Heath C, Bulbeck C (eds) Shadow of the hill. Fremantle Press, Fremantle, pp 81–105

    Google Scholar 

  • Collis M (1999) Marital conflict and men’s leisure: how women negotiate male power in a small mining community. J Sociol 35(1):1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Department of Commerce (nd) Women in the Western Australian workforce. http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/LabourRelations/PDF/FlexibleWorkplaces/Pay_equity_factsheets/Women_in_the_WA_Workforce.pdf. Accessed 2 July 2013

  • Eveline J, Booth M (2002) Gender and sexuality in discourses of managerial control. Gend Work Organ 9(5):556–578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson K (1992) Hewers of cake and drawers of tea: women, industrial restructuring and class processes on the coalfields of Central Queensland. Rethinking Marxism 5(4):29–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson-Graham JK (1994) ‘Stuffed if I know!’: reflections on post-modern feminist social research. Gend Place Cult 1(2):205–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Healy J, Mavromaras K, Sloane PJ (2012) Skill shortages: prevalence, causes, remedies and consequences for Australian businesses. National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), Adelaide

    Google Scholar 

  • Heath C (1985) Chris’ story. In: Heath C, Bulbeck C (eds) Shadow of the hill. Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, pp 17–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Heath C, Bulbeck C (1985) Shadow of the hill. Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle

    Google Scholar 

  • Lord L, Jefferson T, Eastham J (2012) Women’s participation in mining: what can we learn from EOWA reports? Aust Bull Lab 38(1):68–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayes R, Pini B (2008) Women and mining in contemporary Australia: an exploratory study. In: Majoribanks T, Barraket J, Chang JS, Dawson A, Guillemin M, Henry-Waring M, Kenyon A, Kokanovic R, Lewis J, Lusher D, Noland D, Pyett P, Robins R, Warr D, Wyn J (eds) The Australian sociological association conference, re-imagining Sociology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 8–10 December

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayes R, Pini B (2010) The ‘feminine revolution in mining’: a critique. Aust Geogr 41(2):233–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayes R, Pini B (forthcoming) ‘The Australian mining industry and the ideal mining woman: Mobilizing a public business case for gender equality. J Indus Relat

    Google Scholar 

  • National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) (2005) Prospecting for skills: the current and future skill needs in the minerals sector. Executive summary of final report. NCVER, Adelaide

    Google Scholar 

  • Pattenden C (1998) Women in mining: a report to the ‘women in mining’ taskforce, the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. http://www.ausimm.com.au. Accessed 2 July 2013

  • Pini B, Mayes R (2011) Configurations of gender, class and rurality in resource-affected rural Australia. In: Pini B, Leach B (eds) Reshaping gender and class in rural spaces. Ashgate, Aldershot, pp 115–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Pini B, Mayes R (2012a) Gender, emotions and FIFO work. Aust J Soc Issues 47(1):71–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Pini B, Mayes R (2012b) Gender, sexuality, and rurality in the mining industry. In: Gorman-Murray A, Pini B, Bryant L (eds) Sexuality, rurality and geography. Lexington Books, Plymouth, pp 187–198

    Google Scholar 

  • Pini B, Mayes R, Boyer K (2013) “Scary” heterosexualities in a rural Australian mining town. J Rural Stud 32:168–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pirotta J (2009) An exploration of the experiences of women who FIFO. Aust Commun Psychol 21(2):37–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes L (2005) Two for the price of one: the lives of mining wives. API Network, Perth

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarder M (2008) The AusIMM remuneration and employment survey: findings with respect to women. Bulletin (Feature: Workforce Planning and Development), July/August. pp 32–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Storey K (2001) Fly-in/fly-out and fly-over: mining and regional development in Western Australia. Aust Geogr 32(2):133–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams C (1981) Open cut: the working class in an Australian mining town. Allen and Unwin, Sydney

    Google Scholar 

  • Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) (2012) Industry snapshot: mining. https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/Mining.pdf. Accessed 2 July 2013

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robyn Mayes .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mayes, R. (2014). Gendered Dimensions of Resource Extraction: The Place of Women. In: Brueckner, M., Durey, A., Mayes, R., Pforr, C. (eds) Resource Curse or Cure ?. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-53873-5_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics