General
Source: All Africa
So far, debates around Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) have almost neglected gender issues and the role women can play.
Despite the fact gender equality is currently appreciated among many professions, professional foresters have not embraced the idea.
Mrs. Andrea Quesadu-Aguilar noted that issues concerning women that are related to forestry are frequently neglected by community leaders such that women representatives are often either not afforded a seat at decision-making table or are ill-prepared to participate effectively.
Addressing participants at a workshop organised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature- Ghana (IUCN) under theme, "Mainstreaming Gender Consideration in Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation," Mrs. Quesadu-Aguilar, a facilitator cited studies by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Gender and Forestry in Africa and the UN Economic Commission for Europe on Women in the forestry workshop in Europe which revealed that the forestry sector is widely identified with men and that the design of policies and management of formal forestry is almost and always male dominated.
She stated that although there are many cases of women successfully managing community groups in the forestry and Agroforestry Projects, women continue to be nominal stakeholders in the decision-making and planning of decentralized and local forestry programmes such as REDD, which has channelled vast resource into forestry institutions in countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
"During the past ten years, some improvements have been made, but these have been largely imperceptible. An extreme paucity of data makes it impossible to show trends over time or to show the current level of women's participation in the sector.
"In many countries, reliable statistics on the demographics of the forestry workforce are difficult to obtain and when it concerns women's participation, data is virtually non-existent.
She continued, "The lack of statistical data on the role of women in forestry is a handicap in policy planning and formulation, leading to the undervaluation and reporting of women's contributions."
According to Mrs. Quesadu-Aguilar the language of global REDD policies for instance refers to the need to engage indigenous people and local communities, but does not recognise the differentiated needs of women within these communities, signifying an assumption that community participation would ensure their representation and giving a gender blind and therefore erroneous view of reality.
Social ideas of specific masculine or feminine qualities are connected to certain roles, positions, tasks and professions. The perception of what is appropriate for men and women forms the basis for the distribution of work, the design and evaluation of different tasks and the criteria for promotions.
"Forestry is not an exception to this since it has been generally accepted as an arena mainly for men's work, business and governance.
"Within organisations, households, companies and departments a gendered organisational logic is at work, which not only reproduces a structure of gender division but also, paradoxically makes gender invisible."
She noted that, "this vision of reality is influenced by socio-culture norms and religious conceptions strongly driven by concepts of patriarchy that cut across ethnicities, castes, livelihoods, rural and urban communities and the educated and the non-educated populace.
"As a result men, are generally favoured for forest, land, water and other productive resources and women are often excluded from access to decision making realms, reinforcing the notion of the their vulnerability and dependence on men.
She said, the current states of affairs differs significantly from an approach that recognizes rights affordable by international conventions that recognises the role and rights of women who are at greatest risk of losing rights to forest resources or not receiving their shares of compensation for forest protection activates under REDD initiatives.
IUCN is committed to efforts in advancing gender equality in all aspects of its work and globally among its stakeholders and partner organisation.
Through its Global Gender Office, IUCN has become the preferred partner for governments, international and non-governmental organisations, Conventions Secretariats and local community representatives seeking to mainstream and promote gender concern and equity in their programme of work and day-to-day operations.