Gender and mining extractivism. Female mobilization experiences in Zacatecas and Puebla (Mexico)

Abstract

This paper documents and analyzes women’s participation in mobilizations around two mining projects in México: Mina del Toro, still operating in Zacatecas, and Mina Espejeras, Puebla, whose opening was temporarily detained. Drawing on data obtained from 13 inter-views conducted in both states as well as some secondary sources, two civil resistance cases are compared. The number of interviews is scarce because many people refused to collaborate due to the existing conflict. Women’s reasons for involvement have to do with habitat des-truction, water scarcity and contamination, and air degradation. Women experienced the mobilizations in similar ways, but the results at the community level are very different. This paper contributes to the literature on socioenvironmental conflicts with a gender perspective which has traditionally been overlooked.