Gender and forest governance: Does women's presence make a difference?

Can the gender composition of a local forest governance group affect conservation outcomes? This simple question remains largely unaddressed, despite the substantial work on women's representation in public bodies and the growing research on local environmental governance. Economists studying environmental collective action have paid little attention to the question of gender.

Research on gender and environmental governance in other disciplines has focused mainly on women's near absence from community forestry institutions. This presentation reverses that focus and asks: what if women were present in these institutions? Would that affect resource conservation and regeneration? Based on primary data on communities managing local forests in India and Nepal, the author provides some answers.

About Bina Agarwal
 
Bina Agarwal is Professor of Development Economics and Environment, University of Manchester. She is also President of the International Society of Ecological Economics and a member of the Future Earth Science Committee. Her most recent book is Gender and Green Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, Pb 2013).  See also www.binaagarwal.com

Suggested readings:
 
See also, Agarwal, Bina (2009): 'Gender and Forest Conservation', Ecological Economics, Vol. 68: 2785-99.
 
Agarwal, Bina (2010): Gender and Green Governance: The Political Economy of Women's Presence Within and Beyond Community Forestry (Oxford: Oxford University Press), paperback edition 2013.