Unheard Voices from the Margins: The Impacts of the Climate Crisis on Gender-Based Violence and Women’s Coping Mechanisms in Mining Areas

Abstract

The increase in climate change also concurrently increases gender-based violence, especially in mining areas,
where marginalized communities are more prevalent. Mining operations not only damage local ecosystems through
deforestation, erosion, and water contamination but also escalate women’s vulnerability to the harmful effects of the
climate crisis as global climate change intertwined with inequities in women’s roles, access, and control in mining
areas exacerbates the situation experienced by women. Women not only face gender inequality due to the patriarchal order but simultaneously receive a double threat, such as ecological degradation through changes in the landscape of
their living space, which has an impact on the local ecological system and the climate crisis. This paper is compiled
through a systemic literature study and analyzed using feminist political ecology theory and postcolonial feminist
theory to reveal the voices of marginalized communities, especially women, who are often disproportionately affected
by environmental change. This paper will explore 3 main points. First, it identifies how ecological degradation and
climate change threaten women’s livelihoods. Second, it points out the various gender-based violence and injustices
experienced by women. Third, to explore the coping mechanism and the innovation that women use to survive and
adapt to the worsening situation. And finally: how to integrate women’s voices from mining areas in Eastern Indonesia
into climate crisis adaptation and mitigation efforts through policy.