Member Profiles
Read about our WOCAN members!
Danielle Lema Ngono
Coordinator
WOCAN West/Central Africa
What is it like to be a (young) woman in a male-dominated field?
Making forest work for the poor and particularly for women is a quite challenging and exiting work in a context where leaders of research programs are mostly men. It is the case to remark that even if they are few, women are leading some strategic positions both in administration and research domains. Their day to day efforts are converging for a better integration of gender concerns in forestry research. It is the reason why CIFOR is part of the “Gender and Diversity” initiative, and very open to collaborate with all partners working for a better integration of gender issues in NRM.
Making forest work for the poor and particularly for women is a quite challenging and exiting work in a context where leaders of research programs are mostly men. It is the case to remark that even if they are few, women are leading some strategic positions both in administration and research domains. Their day to day efforts are converging for a better integration of gender concerns in forestry research. It is the reason why CIFOR is part of the “Gender and Diversity” initiative, and very open to collaborate with all partners working for a better integration of gender issues in NRM.
Kanchan Lama
Coordinator, WOCAN Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal
Q: From your experiences, what is the impact of making links between professional women and rural women?
A: I am able to bring the issues of grassroots women to global WOCAN members. By making links between professional and rural women, WOCAN has the ability to influence change and target the attitudes and behaviours that work against the integration of gender in agriculture and NRM. Professional women can promote rural women’s concerns among policy-makers and practitioners and encourage gender sensitivity in their organizational practice and policy. This kind of change also encourages important and meaningful relationships between professional and rural women.
Currently I am implementing a WOCAN project with the Department of Agriculture to promote gender and women's rights-based development in research and development practices and policies. This kind of work can have a significant impact on practice and policy when the professionals involved are aware of the importance of gender mainstreaming. Our project is beginning with grassroots level change and will systematically feed back to the international policy level. This process will create a knowledge bank for the practical operation of global policies at the grassroots level. Changes such as this indicate the importance of North-South links. Professional women in the South need networking support and strength from the professional women of the North.
We have achieved a significant policy change regarding joint ownership for women (with men) on leasehold forestry certificates. The certificates are binding for 40 years and had previously only included men's names. This result was possible through a joint effort between rural and professional women, facilitated by the WOCAN Director and the Nepal Country Coordinator, and was the result of a continuous effort to motivate policy makers to undertake such innovative steps.
A: I am able to bring the issues of grassroots women to global WOCAN members. By making links between professional and rural women, WOCAN has the ability to influence change and target the attitudes and behaviours that work against the integration of gender in agriculture and NRM. Professional women can promote rural women’s concerns among policy-makers and practitioners and encourage gender sensitivity in their organizational practice and policy. This kind of change also encourages important and meaningful relationships between professional and rural women.
Currently I am implementing a WOCAN project with the Department of Agriculture to promote gender and women's rights-based development in research and development practices and policies. This kind of work can have a significant impact on practice and policy when the professionals involved are aware of the importance of gender mainstreaming. Our project is beginning with grassroots level change and will systematically feed back to the international policy level. This process will create a knowledge bank for the practical operation of global policies at the grassroots level. Changes such as this indicate the importance of North-South links. Professional women in the South need networking support and strength from the professional women of the North.
We have achieved a significant policy change regarding joint ownership for women (with men) on leasehold forestry certificates. The certificates are binding for 40 years and had previously only included men's names. This result was possible through a joint effort between rural and professional women, facilitated by the WOCAN Director and the Nepal Country Coordinator, and was the result of a continuous effort to motivate policy makers to undertake such innovative steps.
Annina Lubbock
Senior Gender Advisor, Gender and Poverty Targeting, IFAD
Rome, Italy
Q: Why is a partnership between WOCAN and IFAD important?
A: IFAD is pleased to partner with and support WOCAN to create a platform for women professionals and activists, from both developed and developing countries, to advocate more effectively for gender/women’s concerns in agriculture and NRM at both country and global levels. The North-South partnership -a key feature of WOCAN- linking women professionals from developed and developing countries, has proved to be a powerful instrument to raise the level of attention to gender issues in major international events. WOCAN’s activities are directly supportive of IFAD’s work to empower rural women in their operations as agricultural producers and managers of natural resources, to give value to and increase the knowledge they hold, and to bring the issues which concern them to the attention of decision-makers. WOCAN’s global advocacy initiatives and its support to expanded participation of developing country women in Major Groups of FAO and the UNFF complement IFAD’s efforts to increase attention to and recognize the critical roles of rural women in agriculture and NRM as key to the reduction of poverty and food security.
A: IFAD is pleased to partner with and support WOCAN to create a platform for women professionals and activists, from both developed and developing countries, to advocate more effectively for gender/women’s concerns in agriculture and NRM at both country and global levels. The North-South partnership -a key feature of WOCAN- linking women professionals from developed and developing countries, has proved to be a powerful instrument to raise the level of attention to gender issues in major international events. WOCAN’s activities are directly supportive of IFAD’s work to empower rural women in their operations as agricultural producers and managers of natural resources, to give value to and increase the knowledge they hold, and to bring the issues which concern them to the attention of decision-makers. WOCAN’s global advocacy initiatives and its support to expanded participation of developing country women in Major Groups of FAO and the UNFF complement IFAD’s efforts to increase attention to and recognize the critical roles of rural women in agriculture and NRM as key to the reduction of poverty and food security.
Åsa Torkelsson
Doctoral Candidate, Sociology, Stockholm University
Stockholm, Sweden
Q: How can WOCAN best address obstacles faced by women in the professional world of agriculture and NRM?
A: The challenges for women in agriculture and NRM include working in a male-dominated field and potentially having to adapt to a male working culture. It is important that these environments allow for women to work productively and effectively and encourage new and different leadership styles and processes.
I think that WOCAN should encourage not the adaptation but also the reformation of the professional world of NRM. However, the process of reformation has to be frank, sober and also self-critical. The obstacles that I have faced have not been generated foremost from male colleagues and bosses. In fact, my most negative professional experiences have been related to working with female colleagues. Male networks are valuable. Men help each other in their careers and push one another forward. This is not my experience from female networks. I think we women have to improve on that – allowing one another to grow, empower one another to make a career, knowing that if one of us moves up a bit, this will benefit all. This is certainly how male networks have been successful. I think most of us carry an inherent fear about letting out some kind of “aggressivity” required to take strides and make a career, maybe generated from this fundamental fear of not being loved and we have to empower one another to move beyond that to make sustained impact and transformed change. Women sometimes fail to be assertive; although we may voice amongst ourselves a common complaint, it is often a long way to action. When these issues have been addressed in meetings, there has been no support until after the meeting. We need to show more courage and help each other! It is also important to sensitize older women professionals of the needs of younger female professionals, bearing in mind that young women are important resources that can contribute to a transformation with their energy and strength.
A: The challenges for women in agriculture and NRM include working in a male-dominated field and potentially having to adapt to a male working culture. It is important that these environments allow for women to work productively and effectively and encourage new and different leadership styles and processes.
I think that WOCAN should encourage not the adaptation but also the reformation of the professional world of NRM. However, the process of reformation has to be frank, sober and also self-critical. The obstacles that I have faced have not been generated foremost from male colleagues and bosses. In fact, my most negative professional experiences have been related to working with female colleagues. Male networks are valuable. Men help each other in their careers and push one another forward. This is not my experience from female networks. I think we women have to improve on that – allowing one another to grow, empower one another to make a career, knowing that if one of us moves up a bit, this will benefit all. This is certainly how male networks have been successful. I think most of us carry an inherent fear about letting out some kind of “aggressivity” required to take strides and make a career, maybe generated from this fundamental fear of not being loved and we have to empower one another to move beyond that to make sustained impact and transformed change. Women sometimes fail to be assertive; although we may voice amongst ourselves a common complaint, it is often a long way to action. When these issues have been addressed in meetings, there has been no support until after the meeting. We need to show more courage and help each other! It is also important to sensitize older women professionals of the needs of younger female professionals, bearing in mind that young women are important resources that can contribute to a transformation with their energy and strength.
Yamile Julio Castillo
Intern in the Philippines
Tarija, Bolivia
Q: What is it like to be a young woman in a male-dominated field?
A: Being a young woman in a male-dominated field can be a very hard situation. At the beginning of my career and during my first year of study, I had to face many difficulties like people underestimating my physical capacity as a woman in the forestry field, as opposed to my capacity as a student. Many male colleagues used to think that I was not able even to walk in the forest and that I was not strong enough to deal with certain inconveniences, like carrying my own back pack or drinking non-potable water, because I was a woman and was weak.
During the next couple years the situation became easier. My classmates gained respect for me and I got a lot of their appreciation (what many gender authors would call "invisible power"). They became more protective of me instead of competitive and with many of them we would support each other. However, one day during a field trip one of my teachers asked me why I was so enthusiastic about studying forestry knowing that my future would change as soon as I get married. He said that as a forester I can't have a family, a husband or children. He gave me the example of his daughter, who also studied forestry and was later married and nowadays is a housekeeper. This kind of comment makes me feel really bad about the division of roles that exists in some peoples head. They still think that having, growing and educating children are only women’s tasks, when in reality it should be shared.
A: Being a young woman in a male-dominated field can be a very hard situation. At the beginning of my career and during my first year of study, I had to face many difficulties like people underestimating my physical capacity as a woman in the forestry field, as opposed to my capacity as a student. Many male colleagues used to think that I was not able even to walk in the forest and that I was not strong enough to deal with certain inconveniences, like carrying my own back pack or drinking non-potable water, because I was a woman and was weak.
During the next couple years the situation became easier. My classmates gained respect for me and I got a lot of their appreciation (what many gender authors would call "invisible power"). They became more protective of me instead of competitive and with many of them we would support each other. However, one day during a field trip one of my teachers asked me why I was so enthusiastic about studying forestry knowing that my future would change as soon as I get married. He said that as a forester I can't have a family, a husband or children. He gave me the example of his daughter, who also studied forestry and was later married and nowadays is a housekeeper. This kind of comment makes me feel really bad about the division of roles that exists in some peoples head. They still think that having, growing and educating children are only women’s tasks, when in reality it should be shared.
Carol J. Pierce Colfer
Principal Scientist
Bogor, Indonesia
Q: What sorts of gender issues do you face in your workplace? How have you addressed such issues?
A: We have both gender analysis (from a scientific point of view) and gender staffing issues that persist. Although it’s a comparatively good place for women to work, many of us recognize that we still need to do more in terms of gender equity in both sphere (science and staffing).
Q: What has been your experience in advocating for gender issues in your workplace?
A: It has been quite positive, actually. We have a female DG, and even the previous two male DGs were reasonably supportive. My boss is a woman; and we have a better than average record for the CG system (though we still need improvement, of course). Recently a major evaluation recommended that we integrate gender into all of our projects, which was something of a shot in the arm.
Q: How do you link rural women's groups to your work, and what has been the impact of doing so?
A: We have worked successfully with women’s groups in our ‘adaptive collaborative management’ work (reported in The Equitable Forest, and other publications), and are encouraged to continue trying to do so. I am interested in pursuing this through the health and forests lens----strengthening local health and women’s access to birth control (based on our observations of women’s concerns and existing responsibilities).
Q: What is it like to be a (young) woman in a male-dominated field?
A: I’m an old woman in a male dominated field. J Actually I’m an anthropologist so I’m not really from a male-dominated field (at least not dramatically so). I guess I’ve enjoyed the challenge of trying to change their perceptions, usually---though there have been dismaying, destructive experiences as well, along the way.
A: We have both gender analysis (from a scientific point of view) and gender staffing issues that persist. Although it’s a comparatively good place for women to work, many of us recognize that we still need to do more in terms of gender equity in both sphere (science and staffing).
Q: What has been your experience in advocating for gender issues in your workplace?
A: It has been quite positive, actually. We have a female DG, and even the previous two male DGs were reasonably supportive. My boss is a woman; and we have a better than average record for the CG system (though we still need improvement, of course). Recently a major evaluation recommended that we integrate gender into all of our projects, which was something of a shot in the arm.
Q: How do you link rural women's groups to your work, and what has been the impact of doing so?
A: We have worked successfully with women’s groups in our ‘adaptive collaborative management’ work (reported in The Equitable Forest, and other publications), and are encouraged to continue trying to do so. I am interested in pursuing this through the health and forests lens----strengthening local health and women’s access to birth control (based on our observations of women’s concerns and existing responsibilities).
Q: What is it like to be a (young) woman in a male-dominated field?
A: I’m an old woman in a male dominated field. J Actually I’m an anthropologist so I’m not really from a male-dominated field (at least not dramatically so). I guess I’ve enjoyed the challenge of trying to change their perceptions, usually---though there have been dismaying, destructive experiences as well, along the way.
