African Mining Economies and the Gender Gap in Political Participation

Abstract

There is a significant gender gap in political participation in Africa. At the same time, many African economies are heavily reliant on traditionally male-dominated extractive industries. We investigate whether mining activities influence the gender gap in political participation at the local level. To do so, we use Afrobarometer data for over 150,000 respondents merged with precise geo-located information on mining sites in multiple difference-in-difference estimations. We find the gender gap decreases across four dimensions of political participation: in proximity of mineral deposits with ongoing production, the gap in discussing politics drops 18.4%, voting 67%, attending community meetings 28%, accepting women as leaders 95%. These effects are driven by women near active deposits being more politically active than those living further away. However, we detect no change in the gender gap in attending protests, although this gap does widen in high conflict areas. The results are comparable in an alternative, strictly exogenous identification strategy where we predict changes in mining activities with international commodity prices. The main results hold in areas with net inward, net outward, or net stable migration. We explore several mechanisms and find employment, but not community grievances, to be an important channel explaining changes in women's political involvement.

Keywords: Mining, Female Political Participation, Conflict, Migration, Africa

JEL Classification: J16, O13, O55