Women and girls with disabilities worldwide are subject to multiple forms of discrimination—a fact that the 2022 International Day for Persons with Disabilities brings into sharp focus. Yet while all people with disabilities (PWD) face exclusion and widespread stigma, women face the additional burden of exclusion from full participation in economic and cultural activities. Both forms of discrimination result from the collaboration of outdated laws and prevalent societal stigmatization.

This state of affairs is commonplace in Nigeria’s mining sector, according to a report by Arden and Newton and the Ford Foundation on the discrimination that women with disabilities face in that specific part of the nation’s industry. Only 6.4% of the actors in Nigeria’s mining sector are women. Women in Mining, a nonprofit organization in Nigeria, also has highlighted significant gender gaps in the industry.

The current overall news for Nigerian mining is depressing. In the third quarter of 2022, Nigeria’s mining sector suffered a 21 percent decline in growth. However, the headlines get even worse when the focus on this severe exclusion problem in a male-dominated industry is placed on women with disabilities.

Barriers of Culture and Economics

One specific driver of discrimination in Nigeria’s mining  sector is the existence of labor laws restricting women’s participation. For example, the country’s labor laws prohibit women from working underground in a mine. These laws do provide for a few exceptions, yet none of them applies to women with disabilities.  Other provisions in Nigeria’s labor laws prohibit women from working night shifts in any public or private establishment. The Arden and Newton report observes that “openly discriminatory laws such as these can hinder the advancement of women and women with disabilities in the extractive sector. In addition, such laws openly reinforce stereotypes and cultural beliefs about the inability of women and women with disabilities to work certain jobs.”

Regulations barring participation are not the only problem. There are also few policies and programs that encourage the participation of women and persons with disabilities in the sector. Other African Countries—such as Kenya and South Africa—have specific provisions in their mining laws to foster the inclusion of women. Mining legislation in Nigeria does not have these provisions, in alignment with existing cultural norms discriminating against women and persons with disabilities.

It is not only the laws that allow no place for women in mining. The Arden and Newton study notes that these broader cultural and gender norms that dictate particular roles as traditional to women also erect significant barriers. They wreak particular damage on persons with disabilities, who deal with stigmas that define them as “physically unable to work” and “weak.” The notion of disability as a weakness is especially prevalent in Nigeria, where stigma and discrimination remain widespread, and affecting all facets of the lives of persons with disabilities. This stigma runs deep, flowing into all levels of a PWD’s life:  home and family, work, and even in society, And the stigma’s economic effects offer challenges  to meet even a basic standard of living. For example, in many mining communities, women with disabilities are restricted to petty trading. A report published by the British Council’s Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP) stated the case: gender and disability interact with other aspects of identity—such as age, ethnicity, poverty, rural/urban location, and geographical realities—to restrict access to opportunities.

The domination of Artisanal and Small Scale miners (ASM) in the mining industry in Nigeria (and elsewhere) also offers challenges at multiple levels. These miners work at the most basic level, using informal techniques with low technology or minimal machinery. Although ASM is an important source of income for many poor people in the country, it places undue burdens on women and persons with disabilities. Like other forms of mining in Nigeria, ASM activities create health and environmental impacts, and offer the same barrier to entry due both to restrictions on women and people with physical disabilities.

On a larger scale, artisanal and small-scale mining, mainly of gold deposits, has become a driver of persistent local conflicts in many parts of the country. Most of the mining in gold deposits is done illegally and has fueled criminal banditry in many parts of the country. According to the Arden and Newton report, violent local conflicts and rural banditry associated with illegal mining have increased in Nigeria’s North West region since 2011, especially in the States of Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara. This violent conflict also disproportionately affects women with disabilities. Respondents interviewed for the Arden and Newton report in one mining community in Zamfara state mentioned insecurity as one of the reasons why women with disabilities are not involved in the extractive activities in the community. The NSRP study offered more evidence that in times of violent conflict, women and girls with disabilities find it difficult to escape violence and express a sense of abandonment. Difficulties in mobility in a world constructed for the non-disabled also often leave them reliant on others.

Fairness Works on All Levels

No silver bullet will solve this complex and multilayered challenge. Addressing the entrenchment of discriminatory practices and norms against women and persons with disabilities in Nigeria’s mining industry requires multiple solutions.

First, the government needs to put regulations in place that promote the inclusion of women and women with disabilities in the extractive sector. Advocacy groups, such as Women in Mining and the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), have long called for deliberate policies that incentivize women and women with disabilities in the mining sector. Such incentives would include access to micro-credit facilities, skill training, and other initiatives. The inclusion of women with disabilities in the industry should be deliberate. Nigeria’s government must remove provisions that discriminate against women with disabilities in its mining and labor laws to ensure a level playing field. Further, it should create quotas in the laws that favor women and persons with disabilities.

Yet the inclusion of women in the mining sector is not just a question of fairness. It also makes economic sense. According to the IMF, Nigeria could make its vulnerable economy more stable by improving its low levels of gender equality. Adopting the positions taken by South Africa and Kenya will mutually benefit the economy and women with disabilities. Analysts cited in a piece in The New Humanitarian estimate that Nigeria’s gross domestic product could grow by 23 percent by 2025 if women were to participate in the labor force at the same rate as men.

As we reflect on this year’s International Day for Persons with Disabilities, the case of Nigeria’s mining industry offers us a glimpse at the opportunities that positive change can offer to women with disabilities in that country—and beyond.