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Gender, forestry and agroforestry

Worldwide, forests cover 31 percent of the global land surface, store an estimated 296 gigatonnes of carbon and are home to the majority of terrestrial biodiversity. Forests are an important source of fibre, fuel, food and fodder, and provide livelihoods for millions of people, including many of the poorest men and women. It is estimated that 2.4 billion people use wood-based energy for cooking (FAO and UNEP, 2020). Forests also help mitigate climate change and improve soil, air and water quality. If sustainably managed, forests are an important source of renewable raw materials, making a crucial contribution to building circular economies.

FAO Forestry Programme aims to produce transformational impacts that benefit forests, as well as forest-dependent people, and it contributes to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its approach balances economic, social and environmental objectives to enable the present generation to benefit from available forest resources, while conserving those resources to meet the needs of future generations.

While women are instrumental in the forest sector, the opportunities for them to be more active and productive, and true agents of change, are limited.

Across all regions, the forest sector remains a male-dominated field with a persistent gender gap, where women’s roles and contributions are often invisible, despite the long-standing and increasing roles of rural and indigenous women in forestry value chains, particularly in the marketing of non-wood forest products.

Gender differences in the capacity for addressing climate change is still an issue that not only affects productivity but also widens the existing gender gap. Men’s migration to urban areas is leading to the feminization of the forest sector, evident in agroforestry, forest management and conservation activities, where women increasingly play a decision-making role. Also, the existing technologies often do not consider women’s tasks, physical constraints and needs. Further, the participation in forest usage and decision-making is largely determined by societal rules, norms and perceptions, including those pertaining to gender. To address these inequalities, it is crucial to design gender-responsive interventions that address the different needs and priorities of the various population groups that rely on forests and the use of natural resources.

At policy level, FAO collaborates closely with governments and sectorial ministries to design, strengthen and review laws and legal frameworks in the forest sector to make them more gender-responsive. For example, through the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure, FAO has assisted countries in evaluating their forest tenure-related policies, laws, institutions and administration and in formulating actions for strengthening governance and tenure mechanisms that consider gender dimensions. FAO has also supported the development of a gender-sensitive framework to assess the extent and effectiveness of community-based forestry, globally.

  • Forestry and agroforestry systems are not gender‐neutral. Compared to men, women have less access to and control over forest resources and fewer economic opportunities are available to them.
  • Women have highly specialized knowledge of forests in terms of species diversity, management and use of resources, as well as conservation and restoration practices linked directly to household food consumption and health, which are critical during food crises. They play a key role in community-based subsistence activities and in productive initiatives throughout the forest-product value chains. Despite the significant roles women play in the forest sector, they continue to receive insufficient recognition and support from policy‐makers and service providers. The persistent lack of sex‐disaggregated data further compounds this problem.
  • Empowering women in the forest sector can generate significant development opportunities for them and trigger important spill‐over benefits for their households and communities.

Programme formulators and implementers need to identify and address gender issues in relevant projects and programmes. Possible actions include:

  • analyzing gender relations and power dynamics, assessing how they affect the access to rights, resources and opportunities for women and girls, and how they intersect with other areas of discrimination – ethnicity, culture, class, age and disability;  
  • assessing and using available sex-disaggregated data to formulate gender-responsive project activities; and
  • integrating gender-related outputs in project logframes and gender-sensitive indicators in relevant monitoring and evaluation systems.

Support women’s socioeconomic empowerment in the forest sector and enhance their participation in decision-making. Possible actions include:

  • formulating and implementing projects and programmes to create women’s income-generating activities, decent employment opportunities, and entrepreneurship in forest-dependent communities and along relevant value chains;
  • strengthening the capacities of governments and relevant rural institutions, including extension services, to provide gender-responsive services in the forest sector; and
  • promoting gender-transformative approaches to strengthen women’s voices and leadership skills and enhance their participation in forest governance mechanisms and restoration initiatives.

Strengthen women and men’s skills and knowledge. Possible actions include:

  • organizing training sessions on gender equality and women’s empowerment issues in the forest sector for different stakeholders, including men and women of forest communities, development practitioners and government representatives;
  • designing and organizing tailor-made training for women in the forest sector, addressing their specific needs and literacy levels (such as the use of appropriate technologies and communication tools: mobile phones, village posters, theatre, etc.); and
  • producing and disseminating knowledge products and policy briefs on women’s roles, contributions, needs and responsibilities in the forest sector.

Strengthen the capacities of national institutions to improve gender mainstreaming in governance structures, policies and strategies. Possible actions include:

  • engaging government institutions, civil society organizations and relevant women’s advocacy networks to ensure inclusive approaches in the development and implementation of gender-responsive forest policies and programmes;
  • organizing workshops for forestry officials and decision-makers on gender equality and women’s empowerment in forest policies and programmes;  
  • strengthening the capacities of gender focal points within institutions and engaging them in forestry-related consultations, policy review and development processes;
  • providing technical assistance to enhance women’s decision-making powers within institutions and governance mechanisms and increase their involvement in the formulation of policies, programmes and strategies; and
  • producing and disseminating communication products and policy briefs on how to mainstream gender in forest-related policies, programmes and strategies.

Collect, analyze and disseminate sex-disaggregated data in forestry to facilitate the development of gender-responsive policies, programmes and strategies. Possible actions include:

  • conducting a gender analysis to assess existing gaps on land rights, household and forest workloads, benefits sharing, access to and control over forest and other natural resources, gaps in legal systems and customary law, and knowledge and access to information;
  • designing gender-sensitive methodologies to support the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated data (preparing separate questionnaires for men and women within the household, including female enumerators in interview teams to create an enabling environment for women, and planning women-only focus-group discussions, etc.); and
  • producing the evidence base to support the design of gender-responsive policies, programmes and strategies in the forest sector, and monitoring the different impacts of interventions on men and women.

FAO has been supporting the UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD) since 2008 to mainstream gender issues in its major initiatives, such as Building the global capacity to increase transparency in the forest sector and the Global Transformation of Forests for People and Climate: a focus on West Africa.

Through the FAO-European Union Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Programme, a global demand-driven initiative active in 26 tropical timber-producing countries, FAO is empowering women so that they can play a greater role in wood-based value chains and in forest governance and sustainable forest management.

The FAO Forest and Farm Facility initiative is providing direct support to forest and farm producer organizations, women’s groups and female-led enterprises. Through its unique approach, women have enhanced their capacities in entrepreneurship and business skills. Female and male smallholder farmers are able to better advocate for their needs. Rural women have also improved access to services and are better recognized for their crucial contributions to sustainable and inclusive economic development, food sovereignty and climate resilience.