Feminist Institutionalism and Gendered Bureaucracies

Forest ecosystems provide a number of goods and services vital for human life, livelihoods, socio-cultural activities and economies (MEA, 2005; Patterson and Coelho, 2009; Persha et al., 2011). The supplies of these goods and services are contingent upon human actions associated with forests, such as policy and legal frameworks, tenure arrangements, forest management systems, governance structure and rights-based activism, which can collectively be referred to as forestry ‘institutions’ (Robbins, 1998; Springate-Baginski and Blaikie, 2007). Institutions contribute to good governance for forestry. These institutions may be formal or informal, legal or customary. They affect and are affected by people who are dependent on forests for their livelihoods and economies. While institutions are crucial for the protection, management and use of forest resources, the roles and responsibilities of the actors and stakeholders with defined access to, control over and use of forest resources matter for forestry sector governance (FAO, 2011; Larson et al., 2010; RRI, 2009). The categories of actors associated with the access to, control over and use of forest resources include, but are not limited to, males or females, landlords or tenants, industrialized or developing countries, bureaucracy or communities, state or private sector and so on (Larson et al., 2010; RRI, 2009). A cross-cutting category among these actors is the category of ‘women’. However, the roles and responsibilities of women in forestry sector governance or institutions are one of the most contested issues in recent decades (Agarwal, 2010a, 2010b; Sarker and Das, 2002; Shiva, 1989; Sunderland et al., 2014; FAO, 2006; Coutinho-Sledge, 2015).

Gender, as a social construction, refers to the difference between men and women. Gender is the perceived opposite attributes of maleness and femaleness, which define the different behaviours and roles of men and women (Gherardi and Poggio, 2001). Unlike biological differences, gender is socially created and refers to human attributes in relation to norms, values and cultures in a given circumstance (Reed, 2008). Therefore, gender is related more to the perceived (expected or allowed) roles of men and women, which have developed through sets of social practices based on economy, politics and culture. It is a dynamic phenomenon, which is negotiated and contested over time as an element of social relationship (Elmhirst and Resurreccion, 2008). Generally, gender provides additional criteria alongside biological differences in distinguishing between men and women although it has a broader meaning (Gherardi, 1995).

A contextual insight is offered into the history of Nepalese forestry management with reference to women. First, the chapter provides insight into the importance of forest resources for Nepalese people. It reflects how different sections of the population (economically poor, economically well off, men, women, urban dwellers, village dwellers) use forests for various purposes. It also illustrates the existence of two-way relationships between people and forests and the involvement and contribution of people in the maintenance of state forest resources in Nepal. This section concludes that the people living closest to Nepal’s forests, usually in remote and rural areas of the country, have a greater dependency on forest resources. Within these communities, women and economically disadvantaged individuals rely most heavily on forests. It is therefore important to include these groups in decision-making and planning regarding forestry policy, processes and outcomes to ensure that resources are managed sustainably.

In this book, feminist institutionalism is employed as a theoretical lens to examine the Nepalese context. Qualitative research is largely based upon the socially constructed nature of reality, the relationship between the researcher and the subject of the study and other surrounding environments which influence the study (Denzin and Lincoln, 2013). Qualitative approaches are often contrasted with quantitative approaches to research. A quantitative approach emphasizes numbers, measurements, control and experimentation. In a quantitative approach, collected data are often organized and analysed using statistics and expressed in terms of statistical significance. In comparison, qualitative approaches emphasize natural settings, observations, verbal narratives and interpretation. Text or verbal data are explored, organized and analysed subjectively, often by dividing them into different themes and groups. Thus, this qualitative study relies upon descriptive data which may be drawn from conversations, photographs, video and audio recordings and written documents (Boeije, 2010). While some quantitative data—for instance, numbers or percentages—might be used in a qualitative study, the analysis of such data, in qualitative research, would be done qualitatively (Strauss and Corbin, 1990).

This chapter presents a review of Nepalese government policies focused towards gender equality and women’s inclusion and examines the effectiveness of policies and other interventions for women’s inclusion from historical to current times.

This chapter provides insights into the experiences of forestry workers within the framework of Feminist Institutionalism (FI). First, a brief review of the methods for collecting and analysing data is offered. In the second section, the ‘inclusion of women’ in forest bureaucracy is reconceptualized through perceptual data from interviews. In the third section, the organizational culture of the forest bureaucracy in Nepal is described under seven subheadings In the fourth section, Nepal’s forest bureaucracy is examined through the aspects of formal and informal institutions that support or hinder the inclusion of women in forestry organizations. The fifth section of this chapter presents the concept of structure and agency in forest bureaucracy, examined through the perspectives of the research participants. Next, the dynamics of power relations between male and female employees as ‘gender actors’ in Nepal’s forest bureaucracy are explored. In the subsequent section, some reflections based on observations, recorded in a daily journal during fieldwork, are briefly presented as a supplement to ideas generated from interviews and focus group discussions. Finally, the chapter is concluded with a summary of key points.

This chapter examines, within the context of the insights offered in Chap. 6, five major themes (1) the concept of women’s inclusion, (2) organizational culture, (3) formal and informal institutions, (4) structure and agency, and (5) power relations. These five themes and, where relevant, their sub-themes are further explored and discussed in the light of literature and policy practice context of forest bureaucracy. Sections 7.2 and 7.3 discuss women’s inclusion in the forest bureaucracy by comparing and contrasting the idea with women’s social inclusion, gender and women’s empowerment. The nature of organizational culture in the Nepalese forest bureaucracy is discussed, by considering the prevailing practices and struggles of female employees in the light of theoretical contexts. The complexities of formal and informal institutions in the Nepalese forest bureaucracy are described. The emerging feminist movement in the forest bureaucracy is discussed in Sect. 7.6, emphasizing the concept of structure and agency in institutions. Finally, persistence and change in power relations between males and females are examined.

The preceding chapters have highlighted that the ‘inclusion of women’ in the Nepalese forest bureaucracy has been largely rhetorical, and that further efforts are required to make government forestry institutions more women inclusive. Literature on gender approaches to forestry and feminist institutionalism was critically reviewed in Chap. 2, which concluded that male domination in the forestry profession occurs at the expense of women, who are marginalized. Chapter 3 reviewed a subset of the literature, focusing on the forestry sector governance within Nepal. It demonstrated that, in Nepal, entry of women into the forestry profession began as an attempt to regulate women’s behaviour in community forestry. Chapter 4 described the methods applied in the research. The legal and policy frameworks for women’s inclusion in Nepal’s forest bureaucracy were reviewed in Chap. 5. The review concluded that the formal rules for women’s inclusion in forestry are positive despite their failure in implementation. In Chap. 6, results of the research derived from the transcription of interviews and focus group discussions were presented. The results showed that despite formal rules, which support women’s inclusion, women experience challenges in starting, continuing and growing their careers in the Nepalese forest bureaucracy. It also confirmed findings from Chap. 6 that formal rules were not effective due to presence of informal ones. These results were discussed in Chap. 7 in the light of literature and broader social context. Drawing on all these preceding Chapters, this chapter concludes the study and discusses the opportunities for change in the Nepalese forest bureaucracy, from a feminist institutionalist perspective.