Some work underground, others pick over tailings; all are running huge risks. But in the town of Huanani, the mines are the only way to support a family
‘I’m used to it but there’s nothing positive about it.’ Maria Reymaga was taught to mine by her father, and works illegally to support her four children.‘I’m used to it but there’s nothing positive about it.’ Maria Reymaga was taught to mine by her father, and works illegally to support her four children.
“I do an illegal job, stealing,” says Sandra, 34. “I do it because I have no choice. I got into it because I had nothing to live on and no job.” She used to stay at home to look after her two children – her son, 14, lives with cerebral palsy – but since her partner left her six years ago, she has been going to the mine at night.
Half of the female mining workforce in Bolivia is made up of divorced, widowed and single women with children, according to a, an international civil society organisation. About one in 10 women in mining are aged over 60, while almost a third are aged between 41 and 50. A quarter of the female workforce is illiterate and more than half did not finish primary education.
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