A livelihood from the forest: Gendered visions of social, economic and environmental change in Southern Cameroon

Abstract

This paper exposes the different perceptions that men and women in Southern Cameron have on their social, environmental, and economic changing situations. Women see their roles shifting from food subsistence to market providers. Table 2 shows how women perceive their realities as harder due to greater cash demands and poor terms of trade. Men on the other hand, see their standard of living improving. This article is the result of an in-depth qualitative study on a village of 32 households. Even though 'traditional' gender division of labour has evolved, it is still a determinant factor differentiating activities and tasks. Therefore, men and women are affected differently with the economic crisis. More men than women have the ability to diversify their livelihood sources. While women become more dependent on non-timber forest products (NTFP) for cash. Women named 18 NTFP products as very important sources of food or/ and income, but access to the forest is becoming harder and some products scarce.