Extractive industries such as gold mining are expanding rapidly in many parts of the world, often promoted as engines of growth and economic development. These are not neutral economic projects: they are deeply political processes that reshape power, land ownership and decision-making, determining whose interests are prioritized and whose lives are disrupted. Nowhere is this more evident than in contexts where exportation intersects with human rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
In a recent podcast on Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM), moderated by Eszter Kismődi, CEO of SRHM, Allan Maleche (Executive Director, KELIN – Kenya HIV and AIDS Legal & Ethical Network), Mercy Kalemela (Founder and Director, Girls to Women Kenya) and Audrey Bigeti (Co-Founder and Program Manager, Girls in Kenya women) consider how these dynamics play out in Kakamega County, western Kenya. The discussion explores how political and economic decisions around gold mining translate into everyday impacts on health, dignity and bodily autonomy.
Exorcism, Power and Human Rights in Kakamega County
The urgency of the current moment in western Kenya is rooted in rapid changes in the way gold mining is pursued and managed. Gold mining has long taken place in Kakamega County on an artisanal scale, integrated into community livelihoods and local economies. However, recent discoveries of significant gold deposits have attracted the interest of major mining companies, with mining increasingly identified by the state as a national development priority.
On the ground, communities experience something very different. Residents cite growing fears of displacement, loss of farmland and livelihoods, environmental degradation and shrinking urban space to raise concerns. Decisions about exploration, licensing and environmental approvals move quickly, often without transparency or meaningful public participation. Community members who challenge these processes are often labeled as “anti-development” and, in some cases, face intimidation or violence. Fundamental rights are at risk, including rights to land, health, culture, participation and access to justice.
Gendered impacts and lived realities for women and girls
These political and economic dynamics have profound gendered consequences. In the gold mining areas of Kakamega, mining takes place in many sub-regions, with Ikolomani emerging as the largest and most affected region. Women make up the majority of artisans and small-scale gold miners, and many rely on mining alongside agriculture to support their families.
As land becomes increasingly targeted for large-scale mining, women face increased risks of displacement and loss of livelihood, particularly as they are often responsible for food production and household survival. The expansion of mining projects threatens women’s land rights, economic security and ability to support their families, deepening existing inequalities in a context where women already shoulder a disproportionate burden of care and labour.
Beyond livelihoods, the serious implications for health, safety and sexual and reproductive health and rights are evident. Uncontrolled mining practices have intensified sexual exploitation and gender-based violence, including situations in which women and girls are pressured into commercial sex in exchange for access to gold or income. Mercury – widely used in gold mining – poses serious health risks, especially to women of childbearing age and pregnant women. Long-term exposure has been linked to miscarriages, pregnancy loss, premature births, fetal malformations, menstrual disorders, fertility challenges and wider health impairments affecting both women and men.
Many of these effects remain undocumented. Mining communities often lack accessible and reliable health services where women and girls can safely raise SRHR concerns or receive care. As a result, violations of bodily autonomy, safety and dignity often remain invisible in official data and policy processes, despite their profound consequences.
Accountability, participation and what needs to be done next
A central theme that emerges from the discussion is that accountability begins with process. Decisions about gold mining cannot be rushed or treated as deterministic exercises, particularly when communities face displacement, environmental damage and long-term health risks. Meaningful public participation, based on access to information in languages ​​and formats that communities can understand, and genuine opportunities to ask tough questions without fear, is essential.
State institutions, particularly environmental and mining authorities, have a responsibility to act transparently, halt or review projects where serious concerns have been raised, and uphold constitutional safeguards and human rights in practice, not just on paper. Internationally, investors and companies involved in extractive projects must adhere to human rights and due diligence standards. Extractive projects fundamentally reshape everyday life, making this a profound SRHR issue: when participation is denied and accountability weakened, women and girls are exposed to increased risks of violence, exploitation and long-term harm to their health and well-being.
Community organization, resistance and protection
Throughout Ikolomani and surrounding areas, women are organizing in response. Cooperatives, many of which are women-led or inclusive, strengthen collective voice and representation, particularly in decision-making areas related to land use, mining permits and access to livelihoods. For many women, formalization through cooperatives is seen as a path to safer and more secure artisanal mining practices, even as large-scale prospecting proceeds.
Community organizations also facilitate trainings and open forums where women can share their concerns about land rights, health risks and mercury exposure. While these efforts remain insufficient, they are vital spaces for collective learning, leadership development, and solidarity. At the same time, the heightened tensions associated with large-scale research limit grassroots organization and limit the possibility of safe assembly.
There is an urgent need for community allies, resources, and research to build evidence on the impacts of SRHR, improve access to services, protect women human rights defenders, strengthen reporting of sexual and gender-based violence, and promote gender-responsive policies. This includes enforcing existing commitments, such as Kenya’s obligations under the Minamata Convention, to phase out mercury and promote safer alternatives to artisanal mining.
Listening to communities, focusing on justice
The insights shared in this conversation highlight the profound realities that communities in Kenya live with as mining projects expand around them. The experiences discussed, of extraction, inequality, gendered harm and struggles for accountability, are rooted in particular places, histories and lives and deserve to be taken seriously on their own terms. At the same time, they speak to broader patterns of how economic and political decisions shape health, dignity, and bodily autonomy in different contexts.
Taken together, these considerations underscore why the connection between economic justice, human rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights is necessary. We are deeply grateful to Allan Maleche, Mercy Kalemela and Audrey Bigeti for their leadership and for sharing their perspectives so generously, and we hope their voices will continue to inform solidarity, accountability and action.
🎧 Listen to the full episode of the SRHM podcast to hear the conversation in the voices of the speakers themselves.
Further resources:
Please note that blog posts are not peer-reviewed and do not necessarily reflect the views of SRHM as an organization.
SRHM is not responsible for and does not endorse, unless expressly stated, the content of external sites linked to the blog posts.
