The paper reports research of female participation in the non metalliferous small-scale mining sector in Zambia. The objectives of the research were three-fold. The first objective was to establish the extent to which women participate in the sector by collecting sex-disaggregated data and gender division of labour from three mines. The second objective was to examine the human rights and gender problems. The third objective was to investigate the existence of a gender policy in the non metalliferous small-scale mining sector.