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Extractivism, Gender, and Disease: An Intersectional Approach to Inequalities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2018

Cristina Cielo  and
Lisset Coba
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Abstract

Social inequalities can only be understood through the interaction of their multiple dimensions. In this essay, we show that the economic and environmental impacts of natural resource extraction exacerbate gendered disparities through the intensification and devaluation of care work. A chikungunya epidemic in the refinery city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, serves to highlight the embodied and structural violence of unhealthy conditions. Despite its promises of development, the extraction-based economy in Esmeraldas has not increased its vulnerable populations’ opportunities. It has, instead, deepened class and gendered hierarchies. In this context, the most severe effects of chikungunya are experienced by women, who bear the burden of social reproduction and sustaining lives under constant threat.

Keywords

extractive economiescare workgenderhealth inequalitiesstructural violence
Type
Essays
Information
Ethics & International Affairs , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , Summer 2018 , pp. 169 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 2018 

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References

NOTES

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7 According to the 2010 Census, of the economically active population in Esmeraldas, 26 percent are self-employed in the informal sector, 20 percent work in private employment, 18 percent are day laborers, 14 percent are civil servants, and 4 percent are domestic workers.

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