The mining industry has been the backbone of the South African economy since gold was discovered over a century ago. Through colonial exploitative practices, the black indigenous majority of the country was forced to provide cheap unskilled labour to make diamond and gold mining profitable. The situation today is still the same in terms of mine bosses favoring high production and profits over decent working conditions and paying living wages.
With the notion of gender equity in the workplace, many argue that females are just as capable of performing the same tasks in the workplace as males and therefore they should also be fairly represented in all sectors of the economy including mining. The following feature was produced in 2014 and it explores the challenges that women who work in mines face everyday in the work situation.
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