Unheard Voices from the Margins: Climate Crisis Impacts-Gender-Based Violence, and Women's Coping Mechanisms in Mining Areas

Climate change exacerbates gender-based violence, particularly in mining areas inhabited by marginalized communities. Mining activities damage local ecosystems and increase gender inequality, especially in terms of women's roles, access, and control over resources. Women face a double burden: patriarchal social structures and an intertwined ecological crisis. This paper uses a critical literature review with a feminist political ecology and postcolonial feminist theory approach to highlight the experiences of women disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. Three main focuses are analyzed: (1) how environmental degradation threatens women's livelihoods; (2) forms of gender inequality that emerge in the context of extractivism; and (3) strategies and innovations developed by women to survive and adapt. This study underscores the importance of recognizing women's experiences and knowledge in advancing gender-just and socially just climate justice.