824 M. J. Goldman et al.


their mouths. There was one near the big Sampige tree there. I have also seen Russell’s vipers; they are fat and make a loud noise— bushhhhh. There are leopards near the rock next to the road. They just watch us and go away; we don’t have any issues with them.


When we spoke with women about wildlife, they spoke more with respect than with fear, as illustrated in the follow- ing two statements shared during an interview with an old grandmother and her daughter, respectively:


There is one road where we do festivals and puja (prayer); if you keep walking you will reach a rock. Near that rock is a path where elephants, deer, tigers go. If we come across animals in the forest, we must mind our own business, they will mind their own. For elephants we have to make a lot of noise and scare them away. Bears are trickier so it’s better to just be quiet and avoid them. If we see a tiger, we just have to stand and watch from a distance. They will only do something to us if we do something to them, and if we just sit quietly it goes off calmly.


I have seen plenty of [tigers] inside the forest. Once, one tried to catch a goat. I turned and sawit and it was running with the goat in its mouth. I ran after it and held on to the back leg of the goat and screamed at the tiger. The tiger let go and ran inside [the forest]. It didn’t do anything to me, and I had nothing in my hand, not even a machete. Later some- one else came and helped me to wrap up the goat and carry it home.


Maasai women also encountered wildlife whilst herding small stock, collecting water, firewood, grasses for their houses, and medicinal plants, and tending to their farms. Although men are mostly in charge of herding cattle, women tend to small stock and family farms. In mapping exercises women mapped places where lions hide, elephants move, and wildebeest migrate. Women also observed wild- life that come to their farms and discussed at length those they can chase away (zebra Equus quagga, ostrich Struthio camelus) and those they cannot such as elephants and mon- keys, with the latter, one elderly woman explained, ‘act[ing] just like people, collecting the maize and carrying it over their shoulders!’ Many women we spoke with could explain in detail the water needs of animals and their subsequent movement patterns in search of water and green grass. They watched wildebeest movements closely to make sure that small calves did not mistakenly run off with the migrat- ing herds. Similar to Soligas in the Tiger Reserve, most Maasai families are dependent on wage labour, which is al- most exclusively given tomen, including the growing num- ber of community game scouts employed by conservation NGOs. Women supplement their income through micro- development loans, sale of foodstuffs at local markets, and beadwork at handicraft markets associated with tourism.


Discussion


We have shown that women living in and around protected areas in northern Tanzania and South India have stories, experiences and feelings about wildlife that reflect complex relations and expectations of mutual respect. However, despite an extensive literature on both community conser- vation and gender and the environment, questions of gender in wildlife conservation have been poorly addressed. Our


research addresses this neglect and also examines practical ways in which gender imbalances within conservation can be addressed. Although we did this by drawing comparisons from two locations in the Global South, our intention is not to suggest that all women everywhere, or within the Global South, are a homogenous group.We recognize that differen- tiations exist among women within and across locations, and support the call by scholars of feminist political ecology to attend to these differences in both research and action. Our work specifically seeks to address a gap in both research and practice, and to promote in-depth exploration of the ways in which women know about, experience and feel about wildlife while also asking how wildlife conservation can better reflect these real differences in community con- servation endeavours. Women as a social group have not been included in con- servation-related research and action to the same extent as men. Our preliminary findings suggest that assumptions from conservation actors regarding gendered norms, divi- sions of labour, and women’s roles in the public sphere are a significant factor in their exclusion. Yet, we have also shown that gendered divisions of labour do not keep Maasai and Soliga women from interacting with wildlife when they collect firewood,water, forest produce, medicinal plants, or attend ritual events. Divisions of labour and social norms are also changing, withwomen in both places partici- pating more in herding, NTFP collection, farming, politics and meetings. Thus, although local gendered norms and re- sponsibilities may limit women’s participation in certain activities and meetings, this is neither static nor universal. Additionally, gender relations within communities, and the challenges they may present, can be better navigated by outsiders. Meetings can be held at times and locations that make women’s participation easier. Women-only meetings can be held, or women can be given the agenda in advance, so they can plan ahead and choose someone to speak who is comfortable doing so. Social differences such as age, class, education, clan and political orNGOconnections will influ- ence the kinds of involvement women have inmeetings, and those who have something to contribute may not always be the ones who feel comfortable speaking out. These differ- ences matter and suggest that blanket assumptions about women’s inability to participate, or lack of knowledge on a subject (such as wildlife) are unwarranted. Additionally, participation in women’s groups in both locations are lead- ing to more women being able to speak freely in front of men and outsiders. Importantly, we found that women of various ages and status want to be included in conservation- related activities. There is increasing evidence that successful conservation


requires equitable inclusion of a range of community mem- bers (Cetas & Yasué, 2016), including women (Ogra, 2012). And there is a growing awareness of the importance of women in wildlife conservation leadership and action, as


Oryx, 2021, 55(6), 818–826 © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605321000363


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