Why gender matters - Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining ...

1.1 Gender considerations in baseline
community assessments (BCA)
How to – Know and understand
Periodic updating of comprehensive
baseline studies is part of the
Rio Tinto Communities
framework and Communities
work requirement. For a BCA
to be most useful it should be
completed during the early project
evaluation period in advance
of construction. If an operating
site has yet to undertake a BCA,
then one should be undertaken
as soon as possible. A BCA can be
an effective vehicle for clarifying
gender attributes and laying
the foundation for integrating
gender considerations into our
Communities work. Without an
appreciation of gender dynamics
and the different experiences of
women and men, businesses will
not be well placed to understand
the process of social change in
communities or identify potential
risks and opportunities that are
brought about by mining. Human
rights implications of projects
on women and men should be
investigated at the earliest stages of
the business development process.
The data required to understand
gender issues and relationships
within a community can be
drawn from a variety of secondary
sources, including official
census statistics, government
or NGO health surveys, local
government tax ledgers, business
associations, historical societies,
university studies, ethnographies
and local histories, where they
exist. Primary data collection
may also be required, involving
local census, household and
livelihood surveys. An essential
part of a BCA is open dialogue
as well as structured and semistructured
interviews with
individuals and/or groups
(where appropriate, separately
for female and male groups).
Consultation is best undertaken
or supervised by a social science
specialist conversant with survey
and interview methods and
knowledgeable of community and
inter-group research strategies,
with the support of community
members. The research team must
be familiar with local customs,
culture and social structures, and
sensitive to gender issues and
relationships.
Apart from data collection, the
completion of a BCA will require
compilation and organisation
of the data and information
collected, as well as its analysis.
The analysis would draw out the
major community attributes as
well as any significant social,
cultural, economic or political
differences that are important
to know. Most importantly,
differences in the views of
men and women would be
identified, analysed and taken
into consideration. This overall
analysis may be done with the
participation of the Communities
team, or separately, and its results
shared with and validated by
community members.
Communities practitioners are
responsible for defining the
consultants terms of reference
for the BCA or additional studies.
These terms of reference are
critically important because
they direct the researcher to
collect relevant information,
oversee the consultation process,
and examine community and
inter-group characteristics and
relationships of interest. It is
essential that gender is integrated
as a central component of the
terms of reference for any study.
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