Women, Wellbeing and Wildlife Management Areas in Tanzania
Publisher: The Journal of Peasant Studies
Author(s): Katherine Homewood, Martin Reinhardt Nielsen, and Aidan Keane
Date: 2022
Topics: Gender, Renewable Resources
Countries: Tanzania
Community-based wildlife management claims pro-poor, gender-sensitive outcomes. However, intersectional political ecology predicts adverse impacts on marginalised people. Our large-scale quantitative approach draws out common patterns and differentiated ways women are affected by Tanzania’s Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs). This first large-scale, rigorous evaluation studies WMA impacts on livelihoods and wellbeing of 937 married women in 42 villages across six WMAs and matched controls in Northern and Southern Tanzania. While WMAs bring community infrastructure benefits, most women have limited political participation, and experience resource use restrictions and fear of wildlife attacks. Wealth and region are important determinants, with the poorest worst impacted.