Gender dynamics and equity in common property resource management

This is an exploratory case study of Baidol Community Forest User Group of Kabhrepalanchok district of Central Nepal. In the context of second generation issue of gender in Nepal's Community Forestry management, this study was aimed to analyse women's involvement in community forest management and to assess the equity in community forestry from their perspective in terms of common property (community forest) management. The study area is basically a village where agriculture based farming and livestock are the main occupation of the majority of people as forest is an integral component of Nepalese farming system. The sources of primary data were: a two-week long social survey followed by fifty-one separate interviews with female members, researcher's own observation of Forest User Group (FUG) meetings and other Community Forestry (CF) activities which were further supported by secondary information extracted from the study of meeting minutes, FUG records, periodic progress reports and literature review. The study revealed that under homogenous socio-economic condition and with rare socio-political conflicts the women's involvement in CF management can be increased. Women of study area are managing the governed assigned block of forest for their daily benefit of forest firewood, fodder and small timber. Women of homogenous interest and socio-economic status perceive that equality with consensus of all members is Equity. The major decisive factors for these findings were mainly: acute need of forest products; constant support from male members of the community; bounding social norms and future opportunities of the forest. Women can collect/save a significant amount of money and create an excellent source of revolving fund for their social development in small cohesive saving-credit groups. This is a result of women's interactive group work which found to be a major strength of the studied forest user group which is being considered as a successful indicator of Nepal's community forestry.