How Big of a Role Does Gender Play in Restoration Efforts?

Gender has a whole lot more to do with the landscape of Burkina Faso than meets the eye.

Editor’s Note: Marlène Elias, as part of the IUCN’s Case Study Series on Gender and Restoration, writes about the distinct relationships that each gender has with various crops—in this case it’s the shea tree—and how these relationships create distinct knowledge bases and management practices. Many non-physical components can drive a landscape, such as ethnicity, socio-cultural aspects and varying knowledge sets.

Across Africa, women and men relate to trees differently, with unique perspectives driven by gendered differences in the division of household labor. In Burkina Faso, where I have worked, male farmers are the ones to clear and plough fields to cultivate staple crops like millet and sorghum as well as cash crops like cotton. Women cultivate these crops with their husbands, too, but also grow a range of ‘female’ crops, such as groundnuts and okra. They will also collect firewood and other tree products, like the fruit from shea or néré (Parkia biglobosa) trees. Post- harvest, women invariably process the food. These gendered duties give rise to different stores of knowledge – on how to use trees, what to plant, gather, or care for. This is most apparent in women’s knowledge of the shea tree.

Gender drives differences in knowledge of the tree, its care, use and properties, but so too do differences in ethnicity and culture. Burkina Faso’s Moose and Gurunsi people, who are agriculturalists, value shea butter as the primary source of fat in their diet. The Moose and Gurunsi consequently consider shea a priority tree species on their lands. Burkina’s Fulbe people, meanwhile, are herders who rely on fat derived from animal sources. They are more likely to prioritize trees that provide fodder for livestock, like the acacia (Acacia albida). Each ethnic group grows or protects trees with uniquely desired food, fiber, fuel and spiritual characteristics and value. As a result, the dominant tree species found in their landscape reflect culturally-specific preferences and patterns of tree management.

Landscapes are thus influenced by more than just climate, soil and water. They are influenced by socio-cultural systems and the different interests of community members, who rely on distinct tree species or varieties and use their gender-specific skills to manage and utilize these. The shea tree is one great example of how men and women from different backgrounds have differentiated tree-related knowledge and priorities.

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Full Post at IUCN.org