Women in a Natural Protected Area, and their participation inconservation projects

Abstract

Women in rural areas are socially assigned the role of caring for the family and whatever parts of the
family’s assets are within her reach; for example, the family’s yard and poultry. This role is given little
consideration in programs and projects that are oriented toward the conservation of Natural Protected
Areas (NPAs). Because these programs and projects focus, instead, upon productive activities, local
rural women have little participation. In the research reported here, we investigated women’s roles
and participation in the conservation of the Reserva de la Biosfera La Sepultura (REBISE), which
was established 30 years ago. Conservation actions within the REBISE, have been carried out by
all three levels of government, as well as by national and international NGOs. Via fieldwork and
examination of secondary data, plus interviews and surveys of 58 women in five localities in the
REBISE, we analysed the women’s participation at the scales of family, community, and microregion.
For that analysis, we used Geilfus’s (2002) proposed levels of participation. We found that at the
family level, most of the women participate interactively in the family’s self-development. At the
community level, they are driven by incentive-based and functional participation. They participate
in assistance programs whenever the economic motivation is sufficient. Therefore, we conclude that
NPAs should promote processes for involving women, thereby emancipating the women and caring
more effectively for the REBISE’s ecosystems.