Update: late fall 2022

In-person workshops for this program were suspended until the Covid-19 pandemic abated. Although Covid-19 remains active globally, we are now preparing to re-start this program, with suitable precautions. Additional information will be announced as plans firm up. For more updates please revisit this page or sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of the page.

Why Focus on Women in Conservation?

Aren’t women already represented in conservation?

In some countries, women are well represented in the ranks of conservation, but remain poorly represented in top positions. In other countries, women are largely sidelined from decisions about how to use, conserve, or allocate resources. The latter situation is especially challenging because women and children are often most dependent on these resources - the very resources they have so little voice in managing.

Both situations are problematic, because women bring many unique and needed skills to conservation… skills that are often unrecognized and under-utilized - whether in the US or around the globe. With the many challenges facing nature and people, can we afford under-utilized skills? Can we afford to pass up available and valuable ideas?

Significant research on the effects of expanding roles for women is revealing tremendous value. A few highlights:

• Women outperform men in communication and collaboration (Berman et al, 2008. Neuropsychologia. 46(5)1349-1362).

• Women’s leadership styles can be defined as people-based, role-modeling and featuring clear expectations and rewards (Barsh, J and Cranston, S 2009. How Remarkable Women Lead: The breakthrough model for work and life. McKinsey and Company.)

• Women are rated more competent in taking initiative, practicing self-development, integrity and honesty in driving results (Zenger Folkman, 2012)

• Participants in a research study rated women over men by 5 to 1 in the top eight leadership characteristics including honesty and intelligence (Pew Research Center. 2008 Men or women: who’s the better leader? Pew Research Center Publications. Retrieved from http://pewresearch.org/pubs/932/men-or-women-whos-the-better-leader).

More recently, research has specifically delved into how the participation of women at all levels of conservation - including leadership - can affect conservation outcomes. And the early conclusions find that increased women’s participation improves conservation results.

• Representation of women in decision making groups increases the likelihood that climate policy interventions will be effective and that the benefits of the interventions will be shared equally. (Cook, et al. Gender quotas increase the equality and effectiveness of climate policy interventions. Nature Climate Change, 2019; DOI: 10.1038/s41558-019-0438-4)

• … 17 studies identified improvements in local natural resource governance, and three identified conservation improvements when women participated in the management of the resources (Leisher et al. Does the gender composition of forest and fishery management groups affect resource governance and conservation outcomes. A systematic map. Environmental Evidence (2016)5:6)

The field of international development has long known that greater participation and leadership from women offers help toward alleviating some of the fundamental drivers of intense resource use - povery, lack of education, poor health care, lack of work opportunities.

• “When women are fully involved, the benefits can be seen immediately: families are healthier, they are better fed; their income, savings and investment go up. And what is true of families is true of communities and eventually, of countries.” Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General.

• “Education lays a foundation for vibrant lives for girls and women, their families, and their communities…Education also shores up resilience and equips girls and women to face the impacts of climate change. They can be more effective stewards of food, soil, trees, and water, even as nature’s cycles change. They have greater capacity to cope with shocks from natural disasters and extreme weather events.” Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming - Paul Hawken

That’s a lot of evidence.

Empowering Women in Conservation is a Win-Win-Win Solution

In 2018, Seventh Generation Institute started a new program by, for, and about women in conservation called Women Making Waves for Nature. The initial step was to develop a series of workshops on leadership, collaboration, communication and problem-solving that will be offered to women.

Program Goals

1. Increase conservation results by increasing the participation, skills and effectiveness of women in conservation at all levels and in all roles, as is appropriate for their particular culture.

2. Establish an informal network of women conservationists who share ideas, innovations, and lessons learned into the future.

   Summary of Impact to Date

3. Started in late 2018, the first project in this program was a workshop on leadership, communication and collaboration. The workshop was presented twice on Bonaire in December of 2018. Representatives from local conservation organizations attended including Stinapa, Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance, Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire, Coral Restoration Foundation, Echo Bonaire and Boneiru Duradero.

   • Women from this workshop formed an ongoing group to continue polishing their skills and invited the Institute back for additional workshop topics.

   • A program is also underway to train young women in the US in leadership. The first participant was the intern Chyanne Stowell. The current remote intern is Anita Romero.

   • Two additional workshops were held on Bonaire in late 2019, many of the first year participants returning for an advanced session and new participants for the basic session from various communities on the island.

     

     Upcoming Activities

   • Delivering the workshop in additional locations in the US and internationally.

   • Developing additional workshops.

   • Connecting this program to the Institute’s other programs to develop on-the-ground projects in the US and internationally.

Why Start on Bonaire?

Building on the Institute’s previous international project on Bonaire, contacts there in the conservation community and a culture of strong women, Bonaire was a compelling place to start.

Lots more on the Outsider blog post and video of Bonaire here.