In considering how women navigate the complexity and gendered aspects of the artisanal mining industry, this study seeks to unpack women's labour at step one of the global supply chain of coltan, in the post-conflict context of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Female miners are largely excluded from mine work by blurry regulatory frameworks, gendered social norms and financial disparities, however they manage to remain active labourers in the artisanal mining industry. Within a broader socio-political context of poverty, political instability and rural livelihoods, women maintain access to mine work through strategies, often premised on a gendered solidarity, such as organizing into collectives, engaging in small group collaborations and employing creative ruses to maintain the secrecy of their labour. This thesis seeks to analyze women's exclusions from mine work and the subsequent strategies they employ to circumvent those exclusions and maintain work in the mines. Based on three months of ethnographic fieldwork at artisanal coltan mine sites in Masisi Territory in the province of North Kivu, this study employs ethnographic observations, focus group and interview methodologies.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Many refugees and asylum seekers have emigrated from The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has a long history of unrest and instability. Besides its own citizens, South Africa is a refugee receiving country. Its obligations to people seeking refuge within its borders are outlined in both, international and domestic law.

Studies on immigrant women’s political incorporation in Canada suggest that they are less likely to participate politically than immigrant men and Canadian-born women. Many studies have examined the factors that contribute to their lower levels of political participation, yet the impacts of migration experiences have received less attention. To address this gap, this dissertation examines the political incorporation experiences of first-generation immigrant women from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Canada as a case study by employing a trajectory and life course approach to migration to analyze how gendered migration trajectories and experiences influence immigrant women’s political participation in Canada. I also employ La Barbera’s (2012) ‘intersectional-gender’ approach to examine how gender intersects with other social cleavages like race, ethnicity, class, and immigration status to affect immigrant women’s repertoires of political participation. Lastly, I examine how immigrant women may overcome the obstacles imposed by migration and the interlocking systems of oppression in Canada, particularly through the various ways they exercise political agency in the informal political sphere. I draw on life stories interviews with fifteen Congolese women residing in Canada’s metropolitan area of Ottawa-Gatineau. The findings reveal that participants’ migration trajectories to Canada are deeply gendered at the micro, meso, and macro levels, and while most participants felt politically incorporated in Canada, aspects of their gendered migration trajectories limited their participation in the formal political sphere. This includes barriers posed by migration projects, migration types, modes of entry, immigration status, migration experiences, and travelling gender norms from the DRC. However, these barriers generated opportunities for greater participation in the informal political sphere, such as advocacy through ethnocultural and religious groups, protests, school boards, professional networks, and petitions. Furthermore, the findings reveal that participants’ experiences of political marginalization and discrimination in both Canadian society and African immigrant communities, because of their identity as Black Congolese immigrant women, increased their proclivity to participate in informal political activities, as did their socioeconomic status as middle-class immigrant women. The findings make important empirical, analytical, and methodological contributions by providing an original framework for understanding the links between gendered migration trajectories and immigrant women’s political incorporation, enlightening broader understandings of political participation and challenging notions of immigrant women as apolitical, highlighting the understudied impacts of interlocking systems of power on political participation, and disproving the idea that political incorporation is a straightforward process of inclusion and a condition of social cohesiveness.

Conflicts have been present in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for many decades. The demand for the country's natural resources in combination with unstable state power and the presence of armed groups are the reasons why sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) has continued to petrify the local communities. It is used as a systematic weapon to terrorize, humiliate, and intimidate civilians and to destroy communities and families. The aim of this study is thus to investigate the conditions for reproduction of SGBV in DRC as well as its individual and structural consequences. The results of this literature study are analyzed based on the following theoretical approaches: doing gender, toxic masculinity and “the established and the outsiders”. The study, with an integrative approach, shows that there are numerous consequences both for the women and the society, including for example fistulas, gunshot wounds, death, anxiety, depression, rejection, and stigmatization. The results also show that the efficiency depends, among other things, on how culturally integrated the sexual violence is and that it is allowed to reproduce due to gender norms. The violence has unifying effects on members of the armed groups where hypermasculine characteristics are rewarded. Overall, it can be stated that the situation is complex and SGBV is a destructive element in the conflict. The violence is a consequence of prevailing structures while contributing to their maintenance. The study therefore contributes with knowledge about the driving factors behind sexual violence in war and shows the importance of gender norms in its reproduction. / I östra Demokratiska republiken Kongo (DRK) har konflikter varit närvarande i många decennier. Konflikten om landets naturresurser, i kombination med en instabil statsmakt och närvaron av beväpnade grupper är anledningen till att användandet av sexuellt våld fortsatt lamslå lokalsamhällen. Det används som ett systematiskt vapen för att terrorisera, förödmjuka och skrämma civila och för att splittra samhällen och familjer. Syftet med studien är att förstå och förklara vilka faktorer som reproducerar brukandet av sexuellt våld som ett vapen i krig samt dess individuella och strukturella konsekvenser. Detta görs genom en litteraturstudie och resultaten analyseras utifrån följande teoretiska begrepp: att göra kön, toxisk maskulinitet samt etablerade och outsiders. Litteraturstudien, som har ett integrativt förhållningssätt, visar att det finns många konsekvenser både för kvinnor och samhället: fistlar, skottskador, död, ångest, depression, exkludering och stigmatisering är några exempel. Resultaten visar också att effektiviteten bland annat beror på att det sexuella våldet är djupt rotat i kulturen i DRK och reproduceras av rådande könsnormer. Våldet har förenande effekter på medlemmar av de beväpnade grupperna där hypermaskulina egenskaper premieras. Sammantaget kan det konstateras att situationen är komplex och det sexuella våldet är ett mycket destruktivt inslag i konflikten. Våldet är en konsekvens av rådande strukturer samtidigt som det bidrar till upprätthållandet av dem. Studien bidrar därför med kunskap om de drivande faktorerna bakom sexuellt våld i krig samt visar på könsnormers betydelse för reproduktionen av det.