Report

The findings reveal that coal mining produces and reinforces deeply entrenched patriarchal structures that shape who works (and in what types of labour), who participates in decision-making, and who bears the costs of transition. Women were confined to informal, precarious, feminised labour surrounding mining, while LGBTIQ+ people were excluded from formal employment through discriminatory hiring, gender policing, and the criminalisation of claiming rights. Armed conflict compounded these exclusions, exposing women and LGBTIQ+ defenders to serious risks for their advocacy.

This report identifies interconnected policy and research priorities for truly just transitions away from coal. Policy priorities include extending focused support to informal and feminised economies, embedding intersectional analysis in mine closure processes and regulation, strengthening protection mechanisms for human rights defenders, and adopting a long-delayed Public Policy for Women. Research priorities include developing frameworks for understanding how energy transitions affect LGBTIQ+ people, operationalising gender and intersectionality beyond binary gender frameworks, and generating longitudinal evidence on post-closure impacts.