Abstract:
lthough studies emphasize that rural women are persistently being marginalized in forest governance
in the Global South, some feminist scholars contend that women are still joining and engaging in forest
management institutions. Drawing on the ‘Typology of Participation’ model and the ‘Gender Box’
framework, this article intends to widen our understanding of the levels and motivations of rural women
participating in forest management institutions in developing countries. Published journal articles,
theses, organizational reports, and conference papers were reviewed. The review demonstrates that
some of the rural women who joined forest management institutions attended forest meetings, spoke
during the meetings, performed some specific tasks, participated in various forest conservation
initiatives, took leadership positions, and influenced forest use decision making. Existing literature
further advances that the factors operating at micro-scale, meso-scale, and macro scale levels enabled,
motivated and forced women to join and continue engaging in forest management institutions. This
article proposes that forest policy makers, practitioners, and academicians should re-focus their
interests on examining the influence of: rural men, women empowerment, adoption of information
technology, and gendered sharing of roles and benefits on the continuity of women involvement in
forest management institutions.
