Moving gold, moving economies: The rise of migrant women in Zimbabwe's mining sector

Zawya

21 hours ago

Moving gold, moving economies: The rise of migrant women in Zimbabwe's mining sector
A few years ago, she crossed into Zimbabwe from Mozambique with nothing but her youngest child, a small backpack, and the hope of a better life. Today, she is part of a growing network of migrant women shaping the country's mining economy.
An infographic outlining migration patterns from the country of origin to the area of settlement.
Women as Economic Architects
Across Zimbabwe's artisanal gold fields, stories like Faith's are no longer rare. Women, once invisible in mining, are now taking their place at the centre of an industry long dominated by men. And not just local women, many have journeyed from across borders.
In the dynamic mining corridors of Zimbabwe, from Penhalonga to Mazowe, a quiet revolution is reshaping the landscape. It's not led by bulldozers or corporations, but by women, with tools in hand, business savvy in their minds, and community at heart, they are building economies, networks, and futures.
These women are not passive participants in a tough trade. They are pioneers in a regional transformation, connecting communities, creating markets, and aligning naturally with the vision of a borderless, prosperous Africa.
Women from across Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, and Zambia are making strategic moves to mining centers not out of desperation, but out of ambition. Whether traveling internally or across borders, they arrive equipped with a will to work, a knack for trade, and a strong sense of community.
An image visualiser, showing women miners in action
Mining as a Launchpad, Not a Destination
Migrant women play their role in Zimbabwe's artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector. They are miners, traders, cooperative leaders, safety advocates, and value-chain entrepreneurs. With each gram of gold they produce or trade, they are investing in their families, their communities, and the regional economy.
Many of these women are experienced market traders, farmers, and informal entrepreneurs. When economic pressures or climate shifts affect their home regions, they view mining hubs like Mazowe or Bikita as opportunities, not just to earn, but to grow.
'Mining offered me the capital I needed to scale up my business,' says Miriam, a miner originally from Mozambique. 'I came to dig, but I stayed to build.'
Rather than being locked into the mine, women are using mining as a stepping stone into other ventures: poultry, retail, construction, and cross-border trade. It is a deliberate strategy, not a last resort.
Mining by the Numbers: A Sector Shaped by Women
Zimbabwe's ASM sector employs an estimated 535,000 people. According to the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association, women represent between 10% and 15% nationally. In some districts like Mazowe or Penhalonga, they make up nearly half of the workforce. While official data doesn't always capture migration, field evidence shows that migrant women form a vital backbone of mining site economies, especially in high-traffic gold zones.
Nowhere is this impact more visible than at Jumbo Mine in Mazowe. Once a conventional gold field, the site has transformed into a mini trading hub, largely due to the work and vision of women.
Image showing women miners in Mazowe at work
Migrant women miners and traders from neighboring countries have built a thriving, self-sustaining local economy. They've attracted tailors, food vendors, mobile money agents, and tool suppliers, many of whom are also women. These economic linkages closely resemble the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): free movement of goods, services, and people, driven from the ground up.
'We've created a town around the mine,' says Chimwala, a Malawian cross-border trader. 'And it's women who keep it moving.'
From Policy to Practice: Women Leading Integration
While many national governments are still implementing continental frameworks like AfCFTA and the AU Free Movement of Persons Protocol, these women are already practicing them.
The Free Movement Protocol encourages safe, legal mobility for workers and entrepreneurs. The AU Labour Migration Strategy promotes dignity, skills-building, and inclusion for migrants. The migrant women working Zimbabwe's mining fields embody all of this. They're not waiting for formal platforms, and they're building trade corridors with every exchange, creating jobs, transferring skills, and generating revenue.
Infographic detailing migration routes to Zimbabwe
Cooperation Over Competition: Women's Self-Regulated Systems
With little external support, migrant women have developed cooperative models that manage risk, share resources, and enhance safety. These aren't aid-dependent groups, and they are investor-minded, self-regulating teams that fund tools, childcare, transport, and even community defense.
A group of women who migrated from South Africa and settled in Bikita, Masvingo, have formed a viable mining enterprise and are now contributing to large platforms like the regional Alternative Mining Indaba.
Some cooperatives have launched financial savings schemes; others run training sessions on mercury handling, pricing negotiations, and even basic bookkeeping. Women also engage in peer-to-peer mentoring, helping newcomers quickly get up to speed with mining techniques and navigate local authorities.
Beyond Gold: Investing in Future Generations
The benefits aren't limited to the women themselves. Many are channeling their earnings into education and assets for their children. In camps where women work, schools and clinics have begun to emerge, some supported by mining income.
'I used to sell tomatoes at a border post,' says Rose Phiri, a former trader turned miner. 'Now my daughter is in college. That's the power of a little gold and a lot of purpose.'
Several cooperatives now support after-school study groups and youth savings accounts, planting the seeds of generational economic mobility.
Women miners are also opening the door for younger generations to participate in safer, smarter ways. Young women and girls, who often watch their mothers lead cooperatives, are learning not only the value of hard work but also how to run businesses, manage money, and make strategic decisions.
Some youth-focused projects in Penhalonga and Gwanda now include mentorship programs for daughters of miners, connecting them to STEM careers, journalism, and financial literacy. These investments are shaping an empowered, entrepreneurial generation.
Strengthening Systems: Who's Supporting?
Positive shifts are happening at multiple levels. The Zimbabwe Women's Microfinance Bank now extends loans to women in extractives, including migrants. The Zimbabwe School of Mines introduced outreach training for informal and cross-border workers.
NGOs and development partners are launching safe mining toolkits and gender-smart resource hubs. Pilot projects by IOM and UN Women are exploring regional mining ID cards and legal aid clinics.
These initiatives align well with the AU's migration and trade policies. What's needed now is further integration and funding to scale up.
Moving gold
Policy Catch-Up: Learning from the Ground
While migrant women miners still face hurdles like documentation gaps, legal ambiguity, and safety concerns, they are not defined by these. They are already offering answers. Each challenge is met with innovation. These women are not waiting for reform — they are leading it.
To fully harness this movement, policymakers must shift focus and recognize informal actors as legitimate economic participants.
Shamva South legislator, Honourable Joseph Mapiki, who is also a committee member of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines, says it is imperative for policymakers to enact laws that promote women in mining and allow for easier access to the formalization of their work.
Next Steps: Formalization and Mobility
To strengthen the position of migrant women in Zimbabwe's mining sector and align national efforts with African Union frameworks, several forward-looking policy measures could be enacted, including domestication of the AU Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, ensuring that migrant workers, especially women in informal sectors can legally live and work across borders with secure documentation. This would reduce vulnerability and support regional integration.
The introduction of simplified cross-border work permits for informal miners and traders, tied to cooperatives or mining syndicates, would provide legal recognition and enable safer, more stable mobility for thousands of women who are contributing to the economy.
Recognition and formalisation of women-led cooperatives would help secure land use rights, expand access to finance, and elevate their contributions in artisanal and small-scale mining.
Coupled with a gender-inclusive mining formalization strategy, these approaches would prioritize legal literacy, safety training, and youth mentorship, creating sustainable livelihoods across generations.
Why Free Movement Matters
The AU Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, if fully adopted and implemented across Africa, would allow women miners and traders to move legally and safely across borders without fear of detention, deportation, or discrimination. It would enable the creation of regional IDs, access to services, and formal recognition of economic contributions.
Today, many migrant women miners operate without formal documentation, often in legal grey areas where they face harassment, extortion, or barriers to accessing basic services. Lack of mobility rights makes it difficult to scale businesses, attend regional training sessions, or formalize their activities. This undermines not only their productivity but also the broader goals of continental integration.
Implementing the AU Free Movement Protocol would unlock access to formal trade corridors, cross-border banking, cooperative registration, and healthcare. It would also ease movement for cross-border traders who supply mining communities, allowing for greater economic diversity and resilience.
Some women-led organizations are already advocating for these policy changes. Regional forums and networks are pushing for simplified visa processes, recognition of informal worker contributions, and protection mechanisms for mobile workers, especially women.
Free movement supports human dignity. For women building economies across borders, it is the foundation that makes everything else possible.
An Infographic on Free Movement
While much of the spotlight has focused on how women have filled the gap left by migrating men, another story runs deeper, the story of migrant women themselves. Hailing from neighboring countries or displaced from rural regions within Zimbabwe, they are stepping into the mining sector with grit, skill, and vision.
In the heart of Zimbabwe's gold belt, the rhythmic clang of pickaxes and the hum of sieves filtering through riverbeds signal more than just mining activity; it's the sound of economic transformation, driven by the unyielding hands of women.
For years, mining was seen as a man's world, reserved for those who could brave the dangers of underground tunnels and unforgiving landscapes. But today, an increasing number of women are rewriting that narrative, claiming space, staking their claim in gold, and redefining what economic empowerment looks like from the ground up.
Faith, once a hopeful newcomer with nothing but her child and a dream, now co-leads a cooperative of women miners in Mazowe. She trains others, supports her family, and is shaping the mining sector from the inside out.
She mentors younger women who remind her of herself just a few years ago, scared but determined. She speaks at local cooperative meetings, helps negotiate tool-sharing agreements, and even began an informal childcare rotation that allows other mothers to work safely.
'People used to look at me with pity,' she says, laughing. 'Now they come to me for advice.'
Faith's journey is no longer just a personal triumph. It's a blueprint, a living example of how migration, when supported and recognized, can unlock human potential. Her story weaves together many threads: resilience, risk-taking, economic innovation, and generational change.
Their hands may be dusty, but their vision is clear: a thriving, integrated, people-powered economy where women are not just included, but leading.
They are not merely moving to survive. They are moving to shape. In the gold-rich hills of Mazowe, the riverbanks of Penhalonga, and the fields of Bikita, these women are doing more than mining.
They are building the Africa the AU imagined – one border, one gram, one cooperative at a time.
These women are not waiting for systems to change. They are the system change.
In their movement lies momentum; In their labor lies leadership, and in their gold lies a different kind of wealth — one measured not just in minerals, but in dignity, agency, and legacy.
This is not just a story about mining. It's a story about power, moving through hands that have learned how to hold a shovel and a vision at the same time.
© Copyright The Zimbabwean. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).