On the role of women in bushmeat hunting – Insights from Tanzania and Ethiopia

• Published in: Journal of rural studies 2012-10, Vol.28 (4), p.622-630
• Main Authors: Lowassa, Asanterabi, Tadie, Degu, Fischer, Anke
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavior; Bushmeat; East Africa; Eastern Africa; Ecofeminism; Ethiopia; Females; Food; Foreign Countries; Gender; Gender differentiation; Hunting; Natural Resources; Nature conservation; Rural communities; Sex Role; Social behaviour; Tanzania; Women; Women's participation; Women's role
• ISSN: 0743-0167; 1873-1392
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2012.06.002

The role of women in natural resource use has been a recurrent theme in social scientific research, especially in relation to developing countries. In contrast to much of this literature which focuses on differences and tensions between female and male roles, we argue that the interplay between and complementarity of such gendered roles might be highly relevant in understanding contested resource use, but are often neglected. We explore here the role of women in illegal hunting, specifically bushmeat hunting in eastern Africa. Using qualitative data from two sites, lower Omo in Ethiopia and western Serengeti in Tanzania, we found that in both places women, while not actively hunting, played a strong role through a variety of verbal and non-verbal behaviours that motivated male hunting and discouraged their non-hunting. Hunting activities were highly gendered and driven by the interplay between male and female roles, which served to maintain these activities despite strong disincentives from legislation and conservation and development interventions. In contrast to the current literature on women and natural resource use, we thus found that gendered roles complemented and reinforced each other. We discuss implications for research on gender, environment and development, and for the design of conservation-oriented interventions. ► In Ethiopia and Tanzania, women do not usually participate in bushmeat hunting. ► However, we found that women strongly encourage men to go hunting. ► They use a wide variety of behaviours to stimulate hunting and discourage non-hunting. ► Understanding interplay of gender roles is essential to address this contested resource use.