- 4.4.1 Opportunities for Encouraging Women's Participation
- 4.4.2 Constraints to Encouraging Women's Participation
4.4 Planning for Women in Co-management Groups
The co-management groups, WE and NOSLaM, are partnerships between local resource users and local government. Planners are the link between the two partners. Planners are not only members but also have special roles as co-ordinators, facilitators, technical advisers, and responsibility for liaison. As local authorities do not have any formal policies on gender issues relating to Co-management groups, gender planning is reliant on the initiative of the individual planners. The case studies highlighted the constraints and opportunities for gender conscious planning facing planners in the Otago Regional Council, the Waitaki District Council, Environment Waikato and the Waikato District Council.
4.4.1 Opportunities for Encouraging Women's Participation
The Community usually needs council resources, advice and expertise to establish the group. Case study evidence shows that the manner in which a co-management group is formed has an important hearing on the gender balance of that group. Neither NOSLaM or WE made a conscious effort to involve women when establishing the group. The lack or women in the WE workshops and the NOSLaM group in general implies that planners do have a responsibility to 'artificially' encourage women at the consultation stage of establishing a co-management group in order to avoid their absence in the subsequent planning process: decision-making, implementation and managing. The fact that women do not automatically participate indicates that there are broad social constraints to women's participation that need to be overcome. The female co-ordinator and the female Environment Waikato planner attempted to overcome some of these social constraints by organising a women's only workshop with childcare facilities. This workshop was held very early on in the WE formation process and once women's views and interests were incorporated in the group's objectives and activities, women's participation has not been a problem. On the other hand, it took NOSLaM two years before it organised a women's workshop; two years in which few women participated in the group.
After establishing a group the next step is for the community members and the local authority to shape their goals and objectives. As already ascertained, women have different interests in the environment and if these interests are not addressed by co-management groups many women will not participate. It is, therefore, imperative that their input is encouraged by planners at the goal definition stage of the planning process to ensure their interests are encompassed in the objectives of the group. A WE women's kitchen workshop went some way to achieving this by highlighting issues that had not been raised in previous workshops. The WE group took into account the concerns raised at this workshop when identifying their goal which embraces ecological, economic and social aspects of sustainability of the Whaingaroa Harbour. In contrast, the NOSLaM objectives were decided upon by the committee, which comprises 10 farmers, an Otago Regional Council planner, a Ministry of Agriculture policy consultant and the co-ordinator all of whom are male. The views and concerns of women were not incorporated into the group's goals and, as discussed previously, this has resulted in women's limited involvement in the group because they are simply not as interested in NOSLaM's objectives.
Although the bulk of responsibility for encouraging women's participation is accepted by Co-management group members, there are opportunities for planners to help them. Planners can educate co-management members on: effective consultation procedures to involve women at the initial stages of a group and; how to identify the needs and interests of women in co-management.
4.4.2 Constraints to Encouraging Women's Participation
Despite the opportunities for planners to encourage women's participation in co-management groups as discussed above, there are also constraints that prevent planners taking up these opportunities. Planning has been accused of being one of the most male-dominated professions with its guiding theories and ideologies seen as narrow and reflective of men's interests and concerns (Sandercock and Forsyth, 1992; Greed, 1994). This background has a major influence on decision-making and the treatment of women by planners in co-management groups. Planners need their own gender awareness training to enable them to integrate gender issues into planning and educate co-management members on the interests and needs of women in co-management groups.
The lack of gender awareness within the planning profession also relates to the numbers of women in planning. it has been suggested that changing the numerical dominance of men can also change attitudes (Foulsham, 1990; Greed, 1994). This proposal is particularly in relation to increased numbers of women in senior positions in planning, whereby more women at this level would influence policy-making. Interviews, however, also revealed a need for women planners in the field:
I've had heaps of positive feedback because when I first started here I went round and did a little bit of interviewing, like you're doing, with care groups and I just specifically asked, "what's the role of women in your group?" and "is it good enough?" and "should we be doing more to involve women?" and the women and the men would sit there and say; "look, the regional council need more women staff they need to talk more with women"... Well, there are women fin the council but on the whole they don't actually go and help people do things --so more women in the field. Having women come out from the council means that probably women just feel that there's a female presence and that also probably legitimises it. (Jacqui, Environment Waikato)
The increased visibility of women planners in the field can encourage women to participate in co-management groups by letting them know women have just as much right to participate in natural resource management as men. They also represent role models for other women who feel intimidated by the male dominated organisational culture of co-management groups. However, while acknowledging the importance of women planners' presence in the field, it is important to remember that it is not the sole responsibility of women planners to encourage women's participation in Co-management groups. Gender conscious planning must have the support of all planners to be successful and male planners need to be just as gender aware as female planners.
The lack of importance accorded gender issues in planning in New Zealand is reflected in the resources councils are willing to devote to gender initiatives. Councils work on a user-pays basis and, as a result, financial limitations are imposed by the local authority on consultant work, such as special women's days, restricting the time and money planners can spend on what is considered "unproductive work" (L.M, 1981 21). This work is seen as unproductive because it is hard to quantify the intangible benefits gained by encouraging more women to participate. Taking on the additional responsibility for planning for women can place extra demands on planners who are expected to do so "without timescale, budgets or priorities" (Greed, 1994: 5).
These constraints are a product of the wider institutional environment in which co-management groups are set. Women's needs and interests are not addressed by planners because of a culture which does not currently adequately value a holistic and participatory approach to natural resource management, as well as to a lack of training at the tertiary level preparing planners on how to plan to meet women's needs and interests.
Contact for Enquiries
Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
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