The Role of Gender in Park-People Relationships in Nepal

Women’s roles in natural resources and agriculture have been under appreciated or neglected (FAO 2011). Studies often target heads of households, who are usually defined as men, and results are not always disaggregated by gender. Women are often only interviewed when they happen to be the most senior member at home at the time of the interview or there is no male in the household. This sampling method implicitly assumes that men are the default, and that either there are no differences between men and women’s opinions or that they are not important. This assumption is also reflected in project implementation, where women are often relegated to supporting roles such as labor input and skills training (Arya 2007). The lack of research on the role of women in park-people relationships makes little sense given the central role that women play in the environment as collectors, cultivators, and managers of natural resources (Deda and Rubian 2004; Howard 2003; Rocheleau 1995). A gendered approached can promote more socially just conservation (Ogra 2008) by more equitably distributing benefits and mitigating costs (Martino 2008). It can also result in more effective conservation. Westermann et al. (2005) found that women’s participation in natural resource management groups across 20 countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia increased collaboration, solidarity and conflict resolution in groups and increased groups’ ability for self-sustaining collective action. In Nepal and India, women’s participation in forestry groups is correlated with better forest condition, both in terms of conservation and regeneration, and increased forest patrolling and rule compliance (Agarwal 2009). Nepal is a country where the role of women in the use and management of natural resources, including forestry, water, agriculture, livestock, and fisheries, is often greater than men’s (Upadhyay 2005). Women contribute more than 60 % of the agricultural labor force (FAO 2011; Pradhan 1985) and they are primarily responsible for the collection of fuelwood and fodder for household needs (Acharya and Bennett 1981). Their importance has been recognized in community forestry policy, which suggests on paper but does not require a specific level of participation by women in community forestry groups (Agarwal 2010). Participation of women in community forest user groups has increased from 21 % in 2003 to 36 % in 2008 (Ojha et al. 2009), and there are 778 women-only Community Forestry User Groups (CFUGs) out of 14,337 groups total (Department of Forestry 2011). However, the importance of gender is not recognized to the same extent in protected area policy (Chhetri et al. 2008). For example, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPWC) does not keep track of the number of women participating in buffer zone management. As of 2011, there had been only one woman on a buffer zone management committee, who happened to be the chair (personal communication, DNPWC staff member). The objective of this study is to determine if there are differences in women’s and men’s attitude and perceptions toward protected areas in Nepal and to explore the factors that may account for those differences. Specifically, we examine whether gendered differences in socio-economic T. D. Allendorf (*) Land Tenure Center, The Nelson Institute for the Environment, University of Wisconsin, 110 Elm St. Mazomanie, Madison, WI 53560, USA e-mail: allendorf@wisc.edu