Member Q & A

Annina Lubbock
Why is a partnership between WOCAN and IFAD important?

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...

Kanchan Lama
From your experiences, what is the impact of making links between professional women and rural women?

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.

ųa Torkelsson
How can WOCAN best address obstacles faced by women in the professional world of agriculture and NRM?

ųa 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.

Yamile Julio Castillo
What is it like to be a young woman in a male-dominated field?

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.

Carol J. Pierce Colfer
What sorts of gender issues do you face in your workplace? How have you addressed such issues?

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.

Mary Njenja
Mary Njenja, ICRAF

Mary Njenja, ICRAF

Q: What has been your experience in advocating for gender issues in your work and workplace?

A: Advocating for gender in my work has been a learning process through which I have been able to enhance my skills and understanding of people's perception of gender in agriculture and natural resource management.  At first, fellow scientists were skeptical of incorporating gender in their work as they thought it might add to their already overloaded schedules while some did not see the added value that incorporating gender would bring. There was also a group that was ready to integrate gender into their research, but had limited knowledge of tools and approaches. What I have found in advocating gender among communities at the grassroots is that factors such as ethnicity, age, education, religion and socio-economic standing influence gender relations. It is easier for young educated people to change negative gender perceptions and practices than old, unlearned people.

Q: What types of gender issues do you face in your work? How have you addressed such issues?

A: There are few women scientists and even fewer in leadership positions at international levels.  Some gender issues among communities are better studied and interpreted by women, and if there are no women in the organization to do this, the issues are never captured by studies that could be contributing to low impacts of research and development initiatives.

Q: How can WOCAN best address obstacles faced by women in the professional world of agriculture and NRM?

A: WOCAN could best address obstacles faced by women professionals in agriculture and NRM by building their technical and leadership skills including empowering them with tools, guidelines and skill to carry integrated gender in their work and institutional environment.

Q: What do you see as the most important aspect of mainstreaming gender in Agriculture and NRM?

A: Institutions should have very strong political will and be held accountable. Monitoring and evaluation of projects should integrate gender and be designed as a learning processes for stakeholders including donors, researchers and beneficiaries.   

Nawraj Gurung, WOCAN Associate

 

Q: What sorts of gender issues do you face in your workplace? How have you addressed such issues?

A: Most of the women engaged in rural development are kept out of the serious and challenging activities. Because of this, they are deprived of the opportunity to enhance their capability and self esteem. When women were made aware of their right to enhance their capability and move forward, they seemed willing to come out of their comfort zone and take equal responsibility and challenges in the organization. To address the issue of women's domestic responsibility, families and men have to be sensitized and educated.

Q: How do you involve gender mainstreaming in the research and projects at your workplace?

A:

- Identify gender relevant incidents or cases that professional women have been facing at different levels of organization. Organize and facilitate a focus group discussion of concerned professionals. In the process try to expose gender issues and its implication on development outcomes.

- Create a Gender Focus Group and organized a sensitization workshop for key employees and their spouses to mobilize support and initiate changes in the organization as well as in family and community.

- Secure policy guidelines and administrative approval for gender focus groups to strengthen the change process or gender mainstreaming.

- Discuss and consider gender aspects at project formulation and research questions to ensure gender is embedded in project's or research's relevant activities with appropriate budget allocation.

Q: How can WOCAN best address obstacles faced by women in the professional world of agriculture and NRM?

A:

- By promoting professional membership,

- Establish a social network to share learning and outcomes of the projects and research activities,

- Engaging men in WOCAN projects

- Organize professional women in their own organization and support in building their capacity

- Take up or support small grant action research projects in collaboration with local professionals,

Q: How has your experience with WOCAN shaped your engagement in the fields of Agriculture and NRM?

A: My engagements with WOCAN have enabled me to shift my development focus from crop development to human capability development. By engagement with WOCAN, Gender has been institutionalized in my behavior, thought process and profession. In fact, it broadened my perception of development and ability to perceive things like livelihood and development in holistic nature and wholeness.

Q: What do you see as the most important aspect of mainstreaming gender in Agriculture and NRM?

A:

- Giving due recognition to natural phenomena of equal opportunity for both sexes to engage themselves in agriculture and NRM for overall human development.

- Establish mechanism/process with policy support for effective participation of women and men in all the stages of project cycle.

- Build capability of women for effective participation and sensitize men to creating enabling environments for gender mainstreaming.