- 5.3.1 Recommendations to Increase Gender Awareness
- 5.3.2 Strategies to Address Women's Needs and Interests
- 5.3.3 Provisions for Gender Conscious Planning
5.3 Recommendations
5.3.1 Recommendations to Increase Gender Awareness
The involvement of more women in natural resource management is crucial if there is to be balanced decision-making. This is because women offer different perspectives on the environment.
Community members and planners in co-management groups need to:
- Recognise the different concerns and interests of women and men which arise from their different roles in traditional gender divisions of labour.
- Accord equal value to these roles, ensuring that the reproductive and community work of women are visible.
- Recognise the power relations between women and men and the inequalities experienced by many women as a result of traditional power relations.
- Assess the practical and strategic needs of women to enable them to participate in natural resource management and to participate on equal terms with men.
5.3.2 Strategies to Address Women's Needs and Interests
It is evident from the study that a major barrier to women's representation, participation and involvement in decision-making in co-management groups in New Zealand is lack of awareness or women's needs and interests. In order to address these needs and interests co-management committees should:
- Involve women in the early stages of group formation, especially in setting objectives.
- Make women feel comfortable about voicing their opinions by inviting women speakers to field days, encouraging discussions in small groups and organising women only workshops.
- Insure meeting leaders pay special attention to soliciting comments from women at meetings.
- Listen to women when they speak and respect their knowledge and skills.
- Provide childcare facilities at meetings and workshops or contribute to childcare costs.
- Schedule meetings at appropriate times for those minding children or with children at school.
- Recognise women's lack of time because of work and community commitments.
- Integrate, wherever possible, abroad range of environmental issues rather than focusing upon economic aspects of sustainability thus ensuring workshops/field days reflect women's interests and concerns.
- Encourage the involvement of women in leadership role.
- Ensure women have access to decision-making positions based on their skills rather than 'technical expertise'.
5.3.3 Provisions for Gender Conscious Planning
This study found that planners in local authorities recognised gender issues but did not address because of several constraints. To remove these constraints local authorities need to:
- Develop policies pertaining to: consultation procedures with women, provisions for practical and strategic needs and monitoring of women's participation in co-management groups.
- Encourage the promotion of women to senior levels of management and the employment of more women in the field.
- Provide gender awareness training for all staff.
- Distribute evaluation sheets at field days and workshops to find out more about women's interests and needs.
- Develop communication strategies to encourage women's participation, such as working in small groups, and eliciting women's views on issues prior to public meetings.
- Encourage male-dominated committees to adopt strategies to involve women in decision-making
Allocate financial resources to assist co-management groups to actively encourage women's representation, participation and involvement in decision-making.
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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