Gender and the environment: Traps and opportunities

Overview

A growing debate about gender and the environment highlights women’s roles in the use and management of natural resources, opening up important opportunities for development analysis and action. But there are traps in conceiving of women’s roles in relation to the environment in a partial, narrow, or static way; of isolating them from men’s roles; and of assuming a close link between women and ‘nature’s. An alternative approach examines dynamic gender-differentiated activities, rights, and responsibilities in the processes of natural resource management. A case study from the Gola forest, Sierra Leone shows how this approach can help to ensure sustainability and equity in the design of projects concerned with the environment.

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