Intersectional Struggles and Extractive Governance: A Mixed Methods Study of Women's Leadership in South Africa's Environmental Justice Movements (2021–2026)

Environmental justice movements in resource-rich African nations are critical sites of contestation, yet the specific experiences and leadership of women within these movements remain under-researched. This gap is pronounced in contexts where extractive governance intersects with gendered and racialised inequalities. This study investigates the intersectional struggles and leadership practices of women engaged in environmental justice activism. It aims to analyse how gender, race, and class shape their leadership pathways, strategies, and the governance challenges they confront. A sequential explanatory mixed methods design was employed. A quantitative survey (n=215) of activists was conducted, followed by in-depth qualitative interviews (n=42) and participatory observation with selected women leaders to contextualise and elaborate on the statistical patterns. Quantitative analysis revealed that 78% of surveyed women leaders reported experiencing gendered dismissals of their technical knowledge in community engagements. Thematic analysis of interviews identified a predominant strategy of 'embodied resistance', where leaders strategically leveraged their social positioning as mothers and caregivers to legitimise their political demands and mobilise support. Women's leadership is pivotal yet precarious, characterised by innovative strategies that navigate and challenge intersecting systems of oppression within extractive governance contexts. Their leadership redefines political participation but operates within significant structural constraints. Movement-support organisations should develop intersectional capacity-building programmes focused on technical advocacy. Policymakers must create formalised channels to integrate women's situated knowledge from environmental justice movements into resource governance frameworks. environmental justice, women's leadership, intersectionality, extractivism, social movements, South Africa This paper provides a novel, empirically grounded analysis of 'embodied resistance' as a strategic leadership practice, contributing a new conceptual lens to African feminist political ecology.