Girls’ Work in Artisanal Cobalt Mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract The energy transition is causing a sharp increase in the global demand for cobalt. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) holds more than half of the world’s cobalt reserves, with up to 30% of production coming from the artisanal sector. Whilst this sector provides a livelihood for tens of thousands of Congolese families, it is also a site of widespread child labour, which the ILO recognises as one of the worst forms of exploitation. Drawing on field data collected in Kolwezi (Lualaba Province), this study focuses on the experiences of girls in artisanal cobalt mining. This aspect is often overlooked in research that treats child labourers as a homogeneous group. Using intersectionality and feminist political ecology as analytical lenses, the study examines how the intersection of gender, age, and orphan status shapes children’s participation in mining. The findings reveal that girls combine paid and unpaid labour, moving between care work and mineral extraction in order to support their households. Although poverty drives both girls and boys to work, girls face additional constraints related to gendered expectations, school exclusion, and vulnerability to abuse. Situating these experiences within the political and ecological realities of extraction reveals that child labour is a gendered survival strategy embedded in structural inequality.