Women in conservation 865
research on understanding women’s aspirations and agency within conservation and natural resource management. Overall, the conservation sector is not yet considering gen- der equality as an imperative (Schmitt, 2014). We recommend the following actions to address these
challenges: (1) Comprehensive gender and systems analysis should be undertaken prior to and during project and programme implementation, to ensure a nuanced, locally relevant understanding of gender roles and norms, and how these might intersect with conservation and natural resource management efforts (Molden et al., 2014). (2) In- ternal gender audits should be conducted within conser- vation and natural resource management organizations, which could include setting targets for women’s representa- tion in high-status science and leadership positions, not- ing that women’s participation appears to be necessary, but not sufficient, for improved decision-making (Butler, 2013). Recommendations from these audits should then be im- plemented, measured and results reported back to staff and partners. (3) There is also a need to better understand what women’s leadership and empowerment means in the context of conservation. This could be addressed at least partially by applying theoretical frameworks from the social sciences that aim to more deeply understand and address gender inequity, power and patriarchy, and the complex interplay of social and cultural norms (Eagly, 2007; Gaard, 2015; van Oosten et al., 2017; Weldon, 2019). (4)Women need to be actively encouraged to lead research and publish their findings. Evidence suggests that gender-diverse re- search groups produce higher-quality science and are cited more than single-gender groups, yet women researchers may struggle to access the same resources as theirmen coun- terparts to conduct and promote their research (Campbell et al., 2013). (5) The conservation sector needs to acknow- ledge that women are not a homogenous group and that wealth, disability, education, ethnicity, race and other as- pects interact to affect women’s opportunities to engage in conservation. This requires the conservation sector to draw from the social sciences and humanitarian and development sector. (6) Efforts are required to value women’s knowledge, and to enable them to share their knowledge and experience regardless of their formal education. Women often have intimate knowledge of their resources, but lack of formal education limits their access to projects. Specific efforts and resources need to be directed towards engaging women who are excluded from conservation projects because of limited literacy, financial literacy, experience and confi- dence in the use of tools and technologies. (7) The conser- vation sector also needs to work directly with men to im- prove their understanding of the negative impacts of gender inequality and to be accountable in actively addressing these challenges. This is important to mitigate potential risks to women when social and power dynamics are challenged.
This review highlighted significant gaps in how the con-
servation and natural resource management sector addresses inequity for women. It is vital that the conservation sector prioritizes gender equity both within the organizations that guide and implement conservation work as well as in the places where conservation projects are implemented. This will require affirmative action so that women can both benefit from and influence conservation to the same extent as men.
Acknowledgements This research received no specific grant from any funding agency or commercial or not-for-profit sectors. We thank K. Lyons, H. Possingham and S. Mangubhai and J. Fisher for their guidance, two anonymous reviewers for their critiques, and the Oryx editorial team for their help in finalizing the article.
Author contributions Study design: led by RJ with LW, BG; data analysis and writing: led by RJ with BG, LW, CL, RK, NB.
Conflicts of interest None.
Ethical standards Our analysis is based on data collected from other peer-reviewed, published studies. No ethical approval was required for this research, and it otherwise abides by the Oryx guidelines on ethical standards.
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Oryx, 2021, 55(6), 860–867 © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605320001349
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