Rural women's access to common property resources: Case studies from two villages in West Bengal, India.

摘要

Common Property Resource (CPRs) as a source of sustenance for poor, rural households and as a property regime has captured the interest of development practitioners over the last few decades. CPRs are a critical source of fuel, fodder, wild foods and income for mainly poor, rural households in developing countries which are primarily gathered by women. The goal of this thesis is to examine rural women's access to CPRs and the interconnections between CPR access and the status of rural women in the household in West Bengal. Findings related to CPRs and rural women's position in the household from two study villages in West Bengal, India are presented. I present two case studies from both villages, relating to community management of CPRs and the effects of changes in technology and commercialization on access to CPR products, focusing through the lens of gender. This thesis finds that the household status of rural women in West Bengal has deteriorated as their access to CPRs has declined (and as the productivity of those CPRs has likewise declined). Decreasing access to and availability of CPRs decreases rural women's objective contribution within the household which affects the share of resources they get within the household. It increases their collection time, reduces their income and livestock share-reared or owned, which further worsens their fall back options and their power to bargain for resources within the household. In addition, decreased access to CPRs reduces the amount of CPR food and exacerbates the pre-existing gender differences in food allocation within the household.;The findings from this research will help academics better understand the gender relations in the access of CPRs in West Bengal with particular emphasis on the complicated relationships among institutional changes, women's access and socio-economic differentiation.