Gender and indigenous forests in Nicaragua

• In Event: The Evolving Struggle for Indigenous Territories in Latin America

Abstract

This paper reports on a comparative study of gendered forest use, livelihoods and decision making in five regions of Nicaragua. It analyzes the results of 1488 intra-household surveys (50% male, 50% female), and finds important differences between the four non-indigenous forest areas and the indigenous territories of the Northern Caribbean Autonomous Region (RACCN). The study found that in the indigenous regions, forest use by both men and women is more extensive and more diverse; forests are more important to livelihoods, and indigenous women are more likely to be involved in product sales. In the non-indigenous regions, the study suggests that cultural bias against wealthier women’s direct participation in activities such as tree planting. Although women in both regions participate in forest use decisions more in the private sphere than in the public sphere, this gap was far more profound in non-indigenous regions. Prior research had concluded that women tend to manage non-timber forest products and domestic uses, a generalization that has been challenged by Sunderland et al. (2014), which found important differences by world region. Latin America has been far less studied than Asia or Africa. The results here confirm some of the findings of Sunderland et al. but also demonstrate the importance of within-region differences, based on forests, history and culture. It also raises questions about the meaning of “shared work” in forests, and whether the finding of substantial shared tasks around forest product extraction and sale suggests any ways forward for addressing the imbalance in domestic labor.

Author

• Anne M Larson, Center for International Forestry Research