Theorizing the Implications of Gender Order for Sustainable Forest Management

Varghese, Jeji; Reed, Maureen G.

doi:10.1155/2012/257280

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 35 publications

(50 reference statements)

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“…Gender disparities are prevalent in forest user groups. Governing bodies with jurisdiction over forest resources are often dominated by men [93][94][95][96][97][98]. Case study evidence from India and Nepal indicates that increasing the participation of women in forest user groups may increase the potential for the groups to be more effective and to deliver additional livelihood benefits to women and their children [99][100][101].…”

Section: Gender and Forest Governance-lessons For Forests And Food Sementioning

confidence: 99%

Forests and Food Security: What’s Gender Got to Do with It?

Asher

Shattuck

2017

Social Sciences

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Hunger remains a key development problem in the 21st century. Within this context, there is renewed attention to the importance of forests and their role in supplementing the food and nutrition needs of rural populations. With a concurrent uptake of "gender mainstreaming" for sustainable development, there is also a call for understanding the gendered dynamics of forest governance and food security. In this paper, we reviewed emerging research (2009-2014) on forests and food security and on the ways gender is said to matter. As with previous work on gender and natural resource management, we found that gender is an important variable; but how, to what degree and why are different in every context. That is, despite the suggestion of clear linkages, the relationships between gender, forests and food security are not generalizable across contexts. Understanding the relationship between forest resources and food security requires attention to gender disparities at the local level, but also to the broader political and economic context in which those disparities are reinforced. We flag the need to guard against ahistorical and technical approaches to gender and suggest some example research questions that use a more relational view of gender-one that examines how political economy and social power structure access to resources at multiple scales.

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Section: Gender and Forest Governance-lessons For Forests And Food Sementioning

confidence: 99%

Forests and Food Security: What’s Gender Got to Do with It?

Asher

Shattuck

2017

Social Sciences

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“…The perspectives of those involved in resource management are in part grounded in the different roles and responsibilities that men and women have in relation to natural resources (Varghese and Reed, 2012). However, as Agarwal (2001) demonstrates, even when resource management processes are participatory they can also be exclusionary, resulting in the further marginalization of women in decision-making institutions.…”

Section: Gender and Natural Resource Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these findings have largely been derived from research conducted in "developing" regions, where gender and natural resource management have received considerably more attention than in "developed" countries, such as Canada (Reed et al, 2014). This oversight has been attributed in part to gender too often being a "blind spot," or taken for granted as part of everyday norms and attitudes (Arora-Jonsson, 2008;Varghese and Reed, 2012). Such presumptions, and the consequent oversight in analytical attention, are significant because they can lead to the belief that resource management in Canada is gender-neutral and thus impervious to the ways in which gender influences decision-making processes and management outcomes.…”

Section: Gender and Natural Resource Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, Decision Making, and Natural Resource Co-management in Yukon

Staples¹,

Natcher²

2015

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. Across the Canadian North, resource co-management has become a central institution for the management of natural resources. Although many multidisciplinary studies have examined the various social and political dimensions that influence the effectiveness of resource co-management, little has been done to understand how gender might affect collaboration and decision making. This gap is particularly evident in the northern Canadian context, where women make up 16% of all current co-management board members. This study examines the relationship between gender and decision making, drawing on the experiences of those involved in co-management boards in Yukon. Our findings indicate that the representation of women within these institutions is important for establishing a holistic decision-making process and a positive institutional culture that facilitates effective decision making. While there were many different experiences with gender, co-management, and decision making, it was generally agreed that male and female board members had equal opportunities to participate in board decision making. Nonetheless, barriers remain that prevent board members from feeling comfortable acting upon these opportunities. These barriers to participation were experienced by men and women in distinct ways. Institutional level barriers-cases where women's skills and knowledge were considered irrelevant to co-management, where their opinions lacked standing within decision making-will be the most challenging for co-management boards to address in regard to effective decision making.Key words: gender; co-management; natural resource management; Yukon; decision making RÉSUMÉ. À l'échelle du Nord canadien, la cogestion des ressources est dorénavant une institution centrale pour assurer la gestion des ressources naturelles. De nombreuses études disciplinaires se sont penchées sur les dimensions sociopolitiques qui influent sur la cogestion des ressources. Cependant, peu d'études ont été réalisées pour comprendre en quoi le sexe de la personne exerce une influence sur la collaboration et la prise de décisions. Cet écart est particulièrement évident dans le contexte du Nord canadien, où les femmes représentent 16 % de tous les membres de conseils d'administration actuels en cogestion. Cette étude examine le lien qui existe entre le sexe de la personne et la prise de décisions. Elle s'appuie sur l'expérience de personnes qui font partie de conseils de cogestion au Yukon. Nos constatations laissent croire que la représentation des femmes au sein de ces institutions revêt de l'importance dans la création d'un processus de prise de décisions holistiques et d'une culture institutionnelle positive favorisant la prise de décisions efficaces. Bien que l'expérience différait selon le sexe des personnes, la cogestion et la prise de décisions, on a généralement constaté que les membres de conseils de sexe masculin ou de sexe féminin avaient la possibilité de participer de manière égale à la prise de décisions des conseils. Néanmoins, il reste ...

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“…Nonetheless, where women were able to compare experiences with diff erent levels of female representation on one or more boards, they supported the general concept of critical mass leading to more eff ective participation. In other words, nominal representation, or having a "place at the table," did not necessitate eff ective participation, or having a "voice at the table" (Varghese and Reed 2012).…”

Section: Critical Massmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reed and Davidson (2011) propose that gender functions in conjunction with other social structures and processes to infl uence the type of knowledge, values, and concerns that are brought to the table in community-based natural resource management. These are based on the diff erent roles, responsibilities, and experiences that men and women have within the community in relation to the natural environment (Mikkelsen 2005;Varghese and Reed 2012). For example, Reed and Varghese (2007) show that men are more likely to associate the environment with utilitarian values, whereas women convey stronger support for its intrinsic value.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, Critical Mass, and Natural Resource Co-Management in the Yukon

Staples

Natcher

2015

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Abstract:Building on the research of White (2008) and Natcher (2013), who identified a paucity of female representation on co-management boards across the Canadian North, the research reported here set out to understand the implications of this gender imbalance for the experiences of women serving on natural resource co-management boards in the Yukon. Broadly speaking, resource co-management boards include a range of different institutional arrangements in which resource users and government come together to share management responsibilities (Yandle 2003). We explored whether critical mass-defined as a specific number or percentage of women necessary to make their participation within an institution effective-is considered by board members themselves to be a critical factor for the way women participate in co-management deliberations. Through semi-structured interviews with current and former board and staff members, our findings indicate that: 1) a majority of board members feel that the representation of women on co-management boards is necessary to the overall effectiveness of board decision making; and 2) women who ser ved on boards with other female members experienced significantly fewer barriers to their participation than when they were the sole female representative. The intent of this article is to offer a practical application of critical mass theory and, more pragmatically, identify ways in which gender can be accounted for more effectively in co-management processes in Canada.

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Theorizing the Implications of Gender Order for Sustainable Forest Management

Cited by 19 publications

References 35 publications

Forests and Food Security: What’s Gender Got to Do with It?

Forests and Food Security: What’s Gender Got to Do with It?

Gender, Decision Making, and Natural Resource Co-management in Yukon

Gender, Critical Mass, and Natural Resource Co-Management in the Yukon

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