Supporting Sustainable Development Goal 5 gender equality and entrepreneurship in the Tanzanite Mine-to-Market

Denoncourt, JA ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2176-8935, 2022. Supporting Sustainable Development Goal 5 gender equality and entrepreneurship in the Tanzanite Mine-to-Market. Sustainability, 14 (7): 4192. ISSN 2071-1050

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Abstract

This article analyses how a strategy for Tanzania’s tanzanite gemstone mining sector could foster gender equality in the mine-to-market (M2M) supply chain, whilst enhancing opportunities for female entrepreneurship as part of the country’s sustainable economic development. In the mining industry, the contemporary concept of mapping artisanal and small-scale mining to the UN Sustainable Development Goals is a newer aspect of sustainability. SDG 5 aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. However, while there have been initiatives to support gemstone mining in Tanzania and East Africa, to date, the role of women in the lucrative tanzanite M2M supply chain has been less visible and a missed opportunity. This is a concern, as in 2019, pre-COVID-19 pandemic, gemstone and precious metals accounted for an incredible 33.2% of Tanzania’s total exports. In contrast, in leading mining countries such as Australia and Canada, the participation of women continues to steadily advance, economically empowering the women involved. This article contributes a critical review of Tanzanian mining regulation and licensing practice in a historical and gender equality context. A qualitative research case study showcases artisanal small-scale (ASM) tanzanite gemstone miner and entrepreneur Pili Hussein, with a view to support the formulation of a Tanzanian regional, female-oriented, M2M tanzanite strategy. The developed world experience of increasing levels of gender participation in mining provides evidence of a reduced gender pay gap and enhanced mine safety practice when women are involved. This research finds that increased investment in supporting women to participate in the tanzanite M2M gemstone supply chain positively impacts SDG 5 in the country. Furthermore, given Tanzania’s economic dependence on mining and the exceptional characteristics of rare, single-source tanzanite (a generational gemstones), we conclude that gender equality and female mine-to-market (M2M) entrepreneurship has an undervalued, yet important, role to play in Tanzania’s future socio-economic development.

Item Type:	Journal article
Description:	Special edition of in Women Entrepreneurship and the UN SDGs Academic Editors Bettina Lynda Bastian, Haya Al Dajani, Poh Yen Ng, Bronwyn P Wood and Beverly Dawn Metcalfe.
Publication Title:	Sustainability
Creators:	Denoncourt, J.A.
Publisher:	MDPI AG
Date:	2022
Volume:	14
Number:	7
ISSN:	2071-1050
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.3390/su14074192 DOI 1437321 Other
Rights:	Copyright:© 2022 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Law School
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	06 Apr 2022 12:42
Last Modified:	26 Jul 2022 13:58
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/46069

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