Women, Peace & Security in a Changing Global Economy: Mining and the Geopolitics of Critical Minerals

From South America’s lithium triangle to Africa’s copper belt, critical minerals now sit at the center of geopolitical strategy and global economic competition. Demand is surging as governments and industries seek to secure the materials needed to power the technology of the future: renewable energy, electric vehicles, and advanced defense systems – all of which rely on a secure supply of minerals, including lithium, copper, cobalt, nickel, and graphite. According to the International Energy Agency’s Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 report, meeting this rising demand will require USD$500 billion in new mining investment by 2040. Across Latin America alone, the sector is projected to reach USD$154 billion in mining and refining value by 2025 as governments reform regulations to attract investment. Meanwhile, African producers aim to expand extraction and processing capacity to capture a greater share of the global supply chain.

As companies respond to rising demand, mining operations are moving into new frontiers – regions marked by fragile governance, environmental pressures, and community tensions. This growth brings opportunity but also significant risk. Poorly managed expansion can deepen instability and erode local trust. For companies, these dynamics translate into operational delays, higher costs, and reputational risk, all of which can undermine profitability. 

Across many mining regions, the rapid expansion of critical minerals projects is also reshaping local security and social dynamics in ways that disproportionately affect women. Competition over water and land access, the arrival of large male workforces, and uneven distribution of employment opportunities heighten local tensions and deepen existing inequalities. In some areas, mining sector growth has been linked to rising household financial insecurity for women and increased exposure to gender-based violence (GBV). There are also disproportionate health impacts: women occupy a higher proportion of informal or precarious roles in the mining sector, which lack adequate protection against injury and toxic exposure. These dynamics are compounded by fewer opportunities for women to participate in decisions that shape environmental and economic outcomes, which can further strain trust between companies and communities, creating conditions where small grievances can escalate into broader conflict.

As operations continue to expand, multinational mining firms are well-positioned to address and mitigate these challenges by effectively integrating the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda into their governance frameworks. Embedding WPS principles into business operations allows firms to more effectively manage risk, strengthen local stability, and create shared value for communities and investors alike.

Applying WPS Principles to Corporate Governance

The Women, Peace and Security agenda, enshrined in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, recognizes that women’s participation and protection are essential to lasting peace. It calls on governments, international institutions, and civil society to promote women’s inclusion across four pillars: prevention, participation, protection, and relief & recovery. Peace and stability help create conditions for economic growth, and women are central to both factors. Studies show that peace agreements shaped by women’s participation are 35% more likely to endure for 15 years or longer. Societies with greater inclusion of women are also more stable and thus better positioned for investment and long-term development. 

Originally designed for peacebuilding and international policy settings, the WPS framework also offers a useful model for the private sector, particularly in industries operating in fragile environments. As critical minerals development expands into regions shaped by weak institutions and competition over land and water resources, companies face challenges that go beyond technical risk. Project success increasingly depends on how well firms navigate social dynamics - who is included in decisions, whose concerns are heard and when, and how benefits and impacts are distributed among the local population. These factors can influence whether communities view a project as legitimate and whether tensions emerge during construction, production, or expansion. 

Yet traditional corporate risk models focus largely on financial, engineering, and regulatory issues, leaving gaps in how social risks are identified and managed. This is where WPS principles add operational value. By strengthening workforce preparedness, improving community buy-in, and enabling earlier identification of social and security risks, WPS-aligned practices help companies avoid costly delays and reduce operational disruptions. In practice, the framework translates women’s inclusion into measurable performance benefits, reinforcing operational resilience, efficiency, and long-term profitability.

The Business Case for Integrating WPS Principles

Integrating WPS principles across the mining and critical minerals sector in particular offers an ideal test case for how the framework can strengthen operational stability and social legitimacy. Women make up less than 15% of the global mining workforce and remain underrepresented in technical and leadership roles, yet their participation in the sector is linked to safer workplaces, more effective decision-making, and stronger local relationships. Evidence shows that companies with greater diversity of male and female workers experience fewer community disputes and lower employee-turnover rates, improving the predictability of project timelines and long-term financial returns. 

Embedding WPS principles in corporate practice also aligns with evolving investor expectations around environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. Public and private investors are placing greater emphasis on such metrics within due-diligence frameworks, while multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation have tied women’s inclusion to access to development financing. For companies, integrating WPS principles represents disciplined, modern governance – it helps manage operational risk, enhances resilience, and creates shared value for both firms and the regions where they operate. 

The table below outlines how the WPS framework might be translated into corporate governance practices within the mining sector, illustrating how these approaches strengthen both business performance and community outcomes. Prevention encourages early identification of risks tied to factors such as land access, water use, and emerging community tensions. Participation encourages decisions that reflect a range of community perspectives and priorities. Protection strengthens safety for workers and surrounding communities, reducing exposure to reputational issues. Relief & recovery helps companies maintain continuity and rebuild trust after disruptions. Applied collectively, these practices strengthen operational continuity, reduce exposure to costly delays and shutdowns, and improve project bankability by reinforcing workforce stability and community cooperation, while also expanding access to opportunity, safety, and representation for the communities in which mining projects are planned or occurring.

Case Studies

Several mining companies have demonstrated how integrating the WPS framework into operations can strengthen performance over time. For many firms, this shift has been driven by growing recognition that social conflict, reputational damage, and community opposition pose material risks to project timelines, capital costs, and long-term asset viability. Anglo American and Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM), for example, ensure women’s engagement in community consultation, environmental governance, and local supplier development - areas that contribute to project stability in complex operating environments. Their experiences show how meaningful participation by women improves the quality of local dialogue, reduces social tension, and supports more consistent operations over the multi-decade timelines required for large-scale mining projects.

Anglo American

Anglo American is one of the world’s largest diversified mining companies, operating across Africa, South America, and Australia with major projects in copper, platinum, iron ore, and diamonds. Its global footprint and long project lifecycles make community stability and local legitimacy essential to sustained performance. The company’s Social Way Policy provides a structured approach for managing social performance across sites requiring ongoing, inclusive engagement with affected communities and the meaningful participation of groups that are often excluded from decision-making, including women. This approach reflects the Participation pillar of the WPS framework by integrating women’s perspectives into key project decisions. 

At the company’s Quellaveco copper project in Peru, women now make up around 28% of the mine’s permanent workforce - nearly triple the national average for mines in Peru. Research shows that mining companies with more diverse teams tend to perform better operationally - a recent study found that diverse mining crews had a 67% lower injury rate, while companies with a diverse leadership were 25% more likely to outperform their least-diverse peers. Anglo American’s permanent community dialogue forums have also brought women into decisions on water management, resettlement, and social investment. These mechanisms have helped the project maintain stability and move from construction to production on schedule - a rare outcome in the Andean copper sector, where social conflict at other mines have cost operators USD$20 million per week in lost output.

In South Africa, Anglo American applies WPS principles through the Protection pillar as well. Community health and safety assessments for women are built into operations, and through its Living with Dignity initiative, the company partners with NGOs to address GBV and social risks linked to mining-related migration. These initiatives strengthen trust and reduce community tensions that can escalate into costly disruptions.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM)

SQM is one of the world’s largest producers of lithium, iodine, and potassium, with core operations in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Operating in an ecologically fragile and politically sensitive region, shaped by water scarcity, Indigenous rights concerns, and cumulative environmental pressures, the company’s long-term performance depends on maintaining social stability and local consent. These dynamics make women’s involvement central to decision-making, consultation processes, and community participation in local economies linked to mining operations.

A central component of this approach is the company’s partnership with the Atacameña Women’s Alliance (AMA), a coalition of community organizations that work with women across San Pedro de Atacama. Through AMA, SQM has expanded women’s access to technical training, salaried employment, and small-business opportunities connected to mining operations. Women comprise approximately 20% of SQM’s total workforce - more than double the Chilean mining average and up from 16% in 2019. AMA programs received over USD$3 million in funding in 2023, supporting training in areas such as hydrology and biodiversity, as well as providing business support to women-led enterprises that supply catering, environmental services, and other site-related work to SQM operations. The company reaffirmed its commitment to these efforts in its recent celebration of the Alliance’s third anniversary. 

AMA programs strengthen both business stability and community well-being. By involving women in environmental governance and monitoring, SQM draws on a wider range of perspectives related to water and land use - issues that have historically driven conflict in the Atacama. Women’s participation in supplier networks also diversifies local income sources and builds economic resilience in communities that depend on mining. This early, inclusive engagement reduces the likelihood that tensions escalate into opposition or project disruption, demonstrating how WPS-aligned Participation considerations support early risk identification and operational continuity in a region where comparable projects have faced delays due to social unrest.

Corporate Diplomacy as the Next Phase of WPS

In an increasingly competitive landscape, mining companies benefit from stable communities, predictable operating environments, and strong local partnerships to maintain project momentum. As production moves into regions marked by fragile governance and complex social dynamics, firms increasingly find themselves acting as diplomatic actors and shaping local development outcomes over decades. 

The following recommendations translate the WPS framework into practical steps that help reduce operational risk and improve stability in the mining sector. By improving early identification of social risks, strengthening community engagement, and reducing the likelihood of conflict-driven disruptions, the WPS framework can help companies maintain the stability and operational continuity required for long-term investment. 

For Companies: Strengthening Internal and External Commitments

Strengthen Internal Governance and Workforce Practices

• Integrate WPS principles into risk management processes by leveraging sex-disaggregated data and analysis for major project decisions including Environmental Impact Assessments, land access agreements, and security planning.
• Implement comprehensive GBV-prevention and workplace-safety policies that apply both on-site and across transportation, contractor housing, and supply chains.
• Establish confidential reporting channels that are accessible to women in the workforce and surrounding communities, with follow-up procedures and transparent accountability.

Deepen External Engagement With Communities

• Work directly with women’s organizations and local leaders to identify early warning signs of tension related to planned mining operations.
• Ensure women are represented in community consultations and benefit-sharing processes, including water committees, resettlement planning, and social investment boards.
• Support women-led enterprises and cooperatives through targeted procurement, technical assistance, and supplier-development programs, creating diversified local economies that strengthen long-term stability.
• Include women in emergency-response and recovery planning so that community needs are reflected accurately in the design of mitigation measures and site-closure plans.

For Governments and Multilateral Institutions: Creating Momentum and Alignment

Tie Private-Sector Engagement to Existing WPS Commitments

• Integrate mining governance into National Action Plans (NAPs), particularly if the sector is a key economic contributor, ensuring that companies operating in fragile regions are supported, and expected, to follow practices that recognize women’s distinct needs and experiences.
• Use licensing, permitting, and impact-assessment regulations to encourage inclusive consultation and reporting on WPS-related commitments.
• Coordinate across ministries and agencies to ensure policy coherence, reducing the burden on communities and strengthening expectations for private-sector conduct.

Provide Supportive Structures and Incentives

• Dedicate funding for women’s organizations to engage meaningfully in resource governance, environmental monitoring, and early-warning systems.
• Encourage development finance institutions and export credit agencies to include WPS-aligned criteria in due-diligence and monitoring, reinforcing global norms without creating new reporting burdens.
• Support regional governments in high-growth mining areas to institutionalize approaches responsive to women’s needs in their own regulatory frameworks, enabling consistency across the sector.

For WPS Practitioners: Bridging Policy and Private-Sector Practice

Translate WPS Guidance Into Operational Tools

• Develop sector-specific WPS modules for environmental assessments, community consultations, supply-chain programs, and security arrangements - helping companies operationalize the WPS Agenda effectively.

Strengthen Evidence and Accountability

• Expand research and data collection on how women’s participation affects operational stability, dispute frequency, and long-term development outcomes in mining regions.
• Create reporting tools that companies can adopt, helping align their efforts with national and international WPS commitments without imposing new administrative burdens.

As a guest blog, the views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Our Secure Future or any particular organization.