PATRICIA MWEENE
Patricia Mweene of INONGE ZITA
Calling for equality and diversity across the gems and jewellery industry, the Founder of Inonge Zita, a jewellery brand based in Copenhagen, Patricia Mweene started her business in order to create employment for unemployed female gem cutters in Zambia. She celebrates the work of female gem cutters, an occupation that is often made inaccessible and dominated by men. “Jewellery is made for women and bought for women. That makes it the more reason to include women in the decision-making process across the jewellery value chain. It’s a no brainer.” Mweene is currently working with a German gem cutter to teach quality management in gem cutting and creating employment opportunities for female cutters in her hometown of Ndola, Zambia.
Mweene explained that the majority of women in Africa working in the precious materials supply chain operate as artisanal small-scale miners (ASM). “In Zambia, there is a very high number of unemployed graduate female gem cutters who are also aspiring jewellery designers. But their employment prospects are dismal.” For women working in ASM, she said there is no funding or government led initiatives to help them formalise their operations and run profitable small scale mining enterprises. “There is still a lot of work that has to be done on gender equality in Africa,” she added.
Despite the problems in ASM communities, there have been recent improvements in other parts of the world. Mweene believes that the outlook of gender equality across the precious materials supply chain varies depending on each continent. She explained that in Scandinavia and Germany 80-90% of goldsmiths are women. “I noticed a real change in the outlook for gender equality witnessing greater female founded jewellery companies like my own that use precious materials in their jewellery design.”
Africa has a rich history of traditional jewellery making which has been overlooked due to its focus on exporting raw materials. “Africa has all the raw materials required for establishing a vibrant jewellery manufacturing industry.” For Mweene, she would like to see a future where more gold refining, gem cutting, and jewellery manufacturing takes place in this continent.