Theoretical Approaches: Gendered Knowledge in Forest, Ecology and Environment

Abstract

This chapter deals with the theoretical approaches of gender knowledge in forest, ecology and environment. How women’s knowledge of the forest can contribute and the relation of gender in forest-related research and environmental security discourse are been discussed here. Moreover, the chapter tries to correlate the research with two widely studied theories, namely, standpoint theory and feminist political ecology theory. It was found that women possess very significant knowledge which can contribute greatly to forest management, but have less opportunity to engage in the decision-making process. This chapter shows that gender has been a noteworthy issue in forest-related studies for a long time. Gender is also a crucial topic in environmental security discourse. The literature reviewed in the chapter talks about the epistemic value of the women’s lives. Thereafter, women’s knowledge has been discussed with reference to feminist political ecology theory. The final section of the chapter shows how the findings of this empirical study can contribute to the current practice in academia.