Women are regarded the primary resource users. Most of the responsibility for growing and collecting food, medicines, fuel, housing materials, providing cash income for schooling, health care and other family needs rests on their shoulders. They outdo men in terms of involvement in use and management of water, agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishery. In rural Nepal, women have a very close relationship with forests. As participants and decision makers, they share the responsibility of planting, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, carrying grains to the mill for grinding, collecting wood, water and fodder. This article focuses on how women face exclusion and denial of equal sharing of benefits from natural resources. The author explores the problems faced by women, in particular during times on conflict, in fulfilling their role in resource management.
