Research Workshop on Gender and Collective Action
October 17-21, 2005, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Collective action plays a vital role in many aspects of human interaction, including income generation, risk reduction, and public service provision. Experience has shown that institutions of collective action play an important role in how people use natural resources, which in
turn shapes the outcomes of production systems. Many government devolution policies and community-driven development (CDD) programs are fundamentally premised upon
collective action.
Collective action refers both to the process by which voluntary institutions are created and maintained and to the groups that decide to act together.
Collective action can assume various forms ranging from voluntary self-help groups to formal organizations that aim to manage a community's natural resources or to
advocate for political change at the national level.
Integrating a gender perspective into applied research on collective action is imperative because institutions
themselves are gendered and either challenge or reinforce existing social roles. Gender also often serves as an organizing principle for community action and may
have implications for the efficiency and effectiveness of collective action.
This workshop brought together researchers and practitioners from various social science disciplines to investigate how gender-oriented analysis and action can
foster more effective collective action in the context of agriculture and natural resource management. It addressed the following themes:
- Motivations for engaging in collective action: Do women and men mobilize over different issues? How do gender roles influence women's and men's ability and willingness to engage in collective action? If collective action is externally initiated, do gender stereotypes privilege particular groups over others?
- Effectiveness of collective action: Do women and men assume different roles in different types of collective action?How does the gender composition of collective action groups affect their strength and effectiveness? What are the conditions under which mixed or single-sexed groups perform more effectively?
- Impacts of collective action on gender relations: Are there trade-offs between empowering women or men and the economic goals of collective action? Without addressing the gendered dimensions of collective action, do we risk contributing to the disempowerment of women? How can collective action be used to stimulate gender-equitable change processes?
Workshop agenda
Papers presented at the conference are currently undergoing revision to be released as CAPRi Working Papers. The versions presented at the conference are accessible below as drafts not for citation, since revisions are expected.
Papers presented
Gender and Collective Action: A Conceptual Framework for Analysis
Lauren Pandolfelli, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, and Stephan Dohrn. CAPRi Working Paper 64. Washington, DC: IFPRI. 2007.
Groups, Networks, and Social Capital in the Philippine Communities
Marie Godquin and Agnes R. Quisumbing. CAPRi Working Paper 55. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2006.
Gender Differences in Mobilization for Collective Action: Case Studies of Villages in Northern Nigeria
Saratu Abdulwahid. CAPRi Working Paper 58. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2006.
Initiatives for Rural Development through Collective Action: The Case of Household Participation in Group Activities in the Highlands of Central Kenya
Gatarwa Kariuki and Frank Place. CAPRi Working Paper 43. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2005.
Motivation for collective action: A case study of Western Kenya
by Jane K. Njuguna and Corinne Valdivia
Gender relations and management of multiple water use system in Ethiopia
by Michiko Ebato and Barbara van Koppen
Improving the Effectiveness of Collective Action: Sharing Experiences from Community Forestry in Nepal
Krishna P. Acharya and Popular Gentle. CAPRi Working Paper 54. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2006.
Strengthening women's participation through collective action for inclusive decision-making processes: Lessons learned from two villages in Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia
by Yuliana L. Siagian, Brihannala Morgan, Yentirizal, and Neldysavrino
Water, Women, and Local Social Organization in the Western Kenya Highlands
Elizabeth Were, Brent Swallow, and Jessica Roy. CAPRi Working Paper 51. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2006.
When women say enough is enough: The struggle for drinking water in Villa Jardin, Argentina
by Andrea Andujar
Do women's groups promote more equity as compared to men's groups? Evidence from Karnataka, India
by D Rajasekhar and R Manjula
Gender and Local Floodplain Management Institutions: A Case Study from Bangladesh
Parvin Sultana and Paul Thompson. CAPRi Working Paper 57. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2006.
Women's Collective Action and Sustainable Water Management: Case of SEWA's Water Campaign in Gujarat, India
Smita Mishra Panda. CAPRi Working Paper 61. Washington, DC: IFPRI. 2006.
When collective action leads to overburdening of rural women
by Edna Luisa Arganosa-Matienzo
Collective Action in Plant Genetic Resources Management: Gendered Rules of Reputation, Trust and Reciprocity in Kerala, India
Martina Aruna Padmanabhan. CAPRi Working Paper 56. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2006.
Negotiation processes to develop local policies for gender-sensitive and equitable access and control to benefits from natural resource management: The case of Gununo Watershed, Ethiopia
by Hailemichael Taye, Laura German, W. Mazengina, K. Abere
Empowerment through Technology: Gender Dimensions of Social Capital Build-Up in Maharashtra, India
Ravula Padmaja and Cynthia Bantilan. CAPRi Working Paper 63. Washington, DC: IFPRI. 2007.
The Many Meanings of Collective Action: Lessons on Enhancing Gender Inclusion and Equity in Watershed Management
Laura German, Hailemichael Taye, Sarah Charamila, Tesema Tolera, and Joseph Tanui. CAPRi Working Paper 52. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2006.
Other Related CAPRi Publications
Decentralization and Environmental Conservation: Gender Effects from Participation in Joint Forest Management
Arun Agrawal, Gautam Yadama, Raul Andrade, and Ajoy Bhattacharya. CAPRi Working Paper 53. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2006.
Gender, Social Capital and Information Exchange in Rural Uganda
Enid Katungi, Svetlana Edmeades, and Melinda Smale. CAPRi Working Paper 59. Washington, DC: IFPRI. 2006.
