Gender and Green Governance: The Political Economy of Women's Presence Within and Beyond Community Forestry

515 Pages·2010·3.29 MB·English

by  Bina Agarwal

E conomists studying environmental collective action and green governance
have paid little attention to gender. Research on gender and green gover-
nance in other disciplines has focused mainly on women’s near absence from
forestry institutions. This interdisciplinary book turns that focus on its head to
ask:whatifwomenwerepresentintheseinstitutions?Whatdifferencewouldthat
make?
Would women’s inclusion in forest governance—undeniably important for
equity—also affect decisions on forest use and outcomes for conservation and
subsistence?Arewomen’sinterestsinforestsdifferentfrommen’s?Wouldwomen’s
presenceleadtobetterforestsandmoreequitableaccess?Doesitmatterwhichclass
ofwomengoverns?Andhowlargeapresenceofwomenwouldmakeanimpact?
Answers to these questions can prove foundational for effective environmental
governance,yettheyhavebeensubjecttolittleempiricalinvestigation.
Inananalysisthatisconceptuallysophisticatedandstatisticallyrigorous,using
primarydataoncommunityforestryinstitutionsinIndiaandNepal,thisbookis
the first major study to comprehensively address these wide-ranging issues. It
traces women’s history of exclusion from public institutions, the factors which
constrain their effective participation, and how those constraints can be over-
come. It outlines how strategic partnerships between forestry groups and other
civil society institutions could strengthen rural women’s bargaining power with
community and government. And it examines the complexities of eliciting
government accountability in addressing poor rural women’s needs, such as for
cleandomesticfuelandaccesstothecommons.
Located in the interface of environmental studies, political economy and
gender analysis, the volume makes significant original contributions to current
debates on gender and governance, forest conservation, clean energy policy,
critical mass, and social inclusion. Traversing uncharted territory with rare
analytical rigor, this lucidly written book will be of interest to scholars and
studentsaswellastopolicymakersandpractitioners.
BINA AGARWAL is Director and Professor of Economics at the Institute of
Economic Growth, Delhi University. She has held distinguished positions at
many leading universities, including at Harvard, Minnesota, Princeton, Michi-
gan, and New York. She has been Vice-President of the International Economic
Association; President ofthe International Association for FeministEconomics;
and on theBoardof the GlobalDevelopment Network. Agarwal is also the first
womanPresident-electoftheInternationalSocietyforEcologicalEconomics.In
addition she serves on the UN Committee for Development Policy and on the
editorial boards of several international academic journals. An original thinker
with many professional papers and eight books, including the multiple award-
winning,AFieldofOne’sOwn,shehascontributedtobroadeningthefrontiersof
economicthoughtboththeoreticallyandempirically.Aneconomistwithakeen
interestininterdisciplinaryandinter-countryexplorations,herpioneeringwork
ongenderinequalityinpropertyandland,andonenvironmentalissues,hashad
globalimpactamongacademicsandpolicymakers.In2008thePresidentofIndia
honouredherwithaPadmaShri,andin2010shewasawardedtheLeontiefprize
byTuftsUniversity.
Praise for Gender and Green Governance
It is hard to write a short endorsement, given how important this
bookis.BasedonyearsofintensivefieldresearchinIndiaandNepal,
usingdiverseempiricalmethods,anddrawingonadeepunderstand-
ing of the significance of gender representation in governance, Bina
Agarwal has crafted a book of central importance in today’s world.
Both women and their connections with forests have been under-
represented in the field, in academic research, and in policy. With
analyticalrigourandoriginality,Agarwalbridgesthesemajorgapsin
ourunderstandingofthedifferencewomencanmake,whentheyare
activelyinvolvedinforestgovernance.
ElinorOstrom,NobelLaureateinEconomics2009
Beautifully written and soundly argued, this book makes an out-
standingcontributiontothefieldsofbothenvironmentaleconomics
andgovernance.DrawingonoveradecadeoffieldworkinIndiaand
Nepal, and eschewing easy generalizations, Bina Agarwal offers a
richly layered and insightful treatment of the effects of women’s
presence in local bodies governing village forests. Given its mix of
quantitative and qualitativeevidence, this work will be accessible to
scholars and practitioners of many hues. It should be mandatory
reading for anyone interested in the impact of heterogeneity on
village collective action, effective versus nominal participation of
marginalizedgroups,andenvironmentalconservation.
Jean-PhilippePlatteau,UniversityofNamurandco-authorof
HaltingDegradationofNaturalResources
GENDER AND GREEN GOVERNANCE
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GENDER AND GREEN
GOVERNANCE
The Political Economy of Women’s Presence
Within and Beyond Community Forestry
BINA AGARWAL
1
3
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ISBN 978–0–19–956968–7
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In memory of my mother
An indomitable spirit
(1923–2006)
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Contents
ListofFigures xii
ListofTables xiii
Abbreviations xvii
Preface xix
PART I: THE POTENTIALOF PRESENCE 1
1. PresenceandRepresentation 3
TheQuestionofPresence 6
PotentialImpactofPresence 9
SomeComplexitiesofRepresentation 18
ExpectedContributions 25
StructureoftheBook 29
2. GenderedInterestsandtheEnvironment 31
GenderedStakesinForests 31
GenderedInterestsandForestConservation 40
BetweenInterestsandAction 45
ConcludingComments 53
3. FromAbsencetoNegotiatedPresence 55
AHistoryofAbsence 57
NegotiatingaPresence 64
DecentralizingForestGovernance 75
ConcludingComments 90
Appendix3.1. LocalGovernanceandGender:
Mid-NineteenthtoEarlyTwentiethCenturies 93
PARTII: THE IMPACT OF PRESENCE 101
4. FieldsitesandFieldProfile 103
FieldsiteSelection 107
DistrictandVillageCharacteristics 118
ECCharacteristics 127
ForestCharacteristics 136
SomeAspectsofCFIFunctioning 140
ConcludingComments 159
Appendix4.1. DetailsofSampleSelection 161
Appendix4.2. DetailsofDataCollected 165
Appendix4.3. MainPlantSpeciesinSampleSites 168