Abstract
The history of previous economic crises reveals devastating effects for the poor and vulnerable, with strong
evidence of differentiated impacts for women and men. Reports on the recent economic crisis (2008/9) that
severely hit Zambia’s mining sector confirm the negative impacts of the crisis on the livelihoods of workers within
the formal sector in the mining regions. Female and male workers in the informal sector associated with and
dependent upon the formal mining sector have also been impacted by this crisis, although these impacts remain
underreported. Due to differentiated impacts of the crisis for women and men, the livelihoods and the gender
roles within families in the mining regions have dramatically changed. This case study assesses the implications
of the economic crisis in the mining regions of Zambia, from a gender perspective, highlighting the
interconnectedness between the formal and informal sectors and how the negative effects on one have a spillover
effect on the other. The study makes visible the gendered impact of the economic crisis on local livelihoods in
Africa, for those engaged in tradable and in non tradable sectors, debunking the assumption that local
populations that are not directly engaged in economies linked to global markets experience less severe
consequences of the global crisis.