The “How” and “Why” of Including Gender and Age in Ethnobotanical Research and Community-Based Resource Management

Abstract

This paper examines the process and outcome of participatory methods for stakeholder identification. We used focus group style participatory methodology to engage local residents in identifying key sub-groups relevant to conservation in Boumba, Niger. We then conducted a quantitative pictorial recognition study to measure the diversity of local useful plant knowledge across groups. The community identified six gender and age-class groupings relevant to the study. The effect of a participant's gender, socially-defined age class or the interaction of the two factors on the number of plants recognized varied by plant use. Medicinal plant knowledge was highest among elders. Food plant knowledge of food plants increased with age for women only. Where as the interaction of age and gender was strongest on fodder plant knowledge, where mid-aged men scored highest. We reflect on the impact that heterogeneity of local botanical knowledge has on our understanding of local natural resource use and the strengths of using a participatory approach to identifying the stakeholder groups which underlie this heterogeneity.

What is the evidence that gender affects access to and use of forest assets for food security? A systematic map protocol

“…Similar evidence from Mali concur with these observations, showing that elder women could identify approximately 20 of 25 depicted medicinal plants and more than 20 of 25 depicted food plants during photo recognition exercises [24].…”

“…Similarly, a study with women in West Africa, found indications that not only do women allocate more time to collecting and preserving NTFPs, but they seemed to also be more adept at identifying various edible species from the forest than men. For example, in some areas women were found to be more knowledgeable than men in identifying and using NTFPs, collecting fuel wood, preparing food, and feeding their families [24].…”

Gender-responsive participatory research for social learning and sustainable forest management

“…However, in all cases the knowledge held by the different groups in a community was distinct, overlapping and complementary. This observation, echoed by others such as Muller et al (2015), substantiates Mosse's (1994, p. 512) claim that, 'dominant male models are incomplete; they do not, and perhaps cannot, express important aspects of women's experience and interests. ' As no one group holds the complete repertoire of local knowledge, researchers can elicit the fullest information by involving people from different social groups in knowledge generation.…”

“…Moreover, it suggests that all groups stand to learn from knowledge sharing with others. The findings underline the need to consider carefully which criteria for social disaggregation are needed to obtain the most relevant data in each case (Nchanji et al 2017;Muller et al 2015). While the need for gender-responsive approaches is gaining recognition among researchers, a more detailed diversity analysis to draw out other relevant forms of social differentiation that bear upon the data sought remains a challenge (Johnson et al 2004;Reed 2008).…”

Specialization in ethnomedicinal plant knowledge among herbalists in the forest region of Rivercess County, Liberia

“…Significant differences in medicinal plant knowledge were however observed at the national and continental level for both men and women. In Niger, Müller et al (2015) found older people to be more knowledgeable about medicinal plants, with women knowing more about food plants. Given the small number of herbalists in the various age and gender categories we sampled, observed differences in reported knowledge of medicinal plants might be due purely to sample size, and possibly the unwillingness of herbalists to sometimes share their proprietary knowledge.…”