Participatory exclusions, community forestry, and gender: An analysis for South Asia and a conceptual framework

The idea of people's participation has long been part of development thinki ng. But today the management of local natural resources by village communit ies is widely accepted as an institutional imperative. It is therefore esse ntial to examine how these institutions perform, especially from the perspe ctive of the more disadvantaged. Based on extensive fieldwork among communi ty forestry groups in India and Nepal, and existing case studies, this pape r demonstrates how seemingly participatory institutions can exclude signifi cant sections, such as women. It provides a typology of participation, spel ls out the gender equity and efficiency implications of such exclusions, an d analyzes what underlies them. It also outlines a conceptual framework to help analyze the process of gender exclusion and how it might be alleviated . (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.