Gender, Livelihood and Environment

This volume brings together contributions from different parts of the world to show the multiple ways in which women manage their resources, while simultaneously providing for their families. The essays, based on recent anthropological research in diverse societies across ecological zones—the Himalayan border, Kentucky (USA), Tanzania, Norway, and Gujarat—deal with issues of knowledge management, social control and hierarchy, responses during disasters, and the values placed on women’s work. Gender is the most pervasive of inequalities, and women are the most disadvantaged group. The ethnographic sketches presented here show how women negotiate adversity: they trade their bodies; put in extra labour for smaller returns; exchange and collect items that men do not consider worthwhile; form cooperatives, and join micro-credit savings systems. The essays focus on a concept of development that incorporates ideas of justice and human rights, and a gendered perspective helps to identify areas often ignored in formal economic analysis. Providing important lessons for environmental management, Gender, Livelihood and Environment takes a close look at how women, who have traditionally been assigned the tasks of preservation, eke out their survival through sustainable means. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of Environmental Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Gender and Women’s Studies, Sociology and Economics. It will also provide useful resource material for institutions and NGOs that deal with environmental management, resource management, gender issues, and planning and development.