REPORT ON GENDER ANALYSIS IN FORESTRY SECTOR

First of all, we would like to express our sincere thanks to Oxfam Quebec who provided us the opportunities to carry out this analysis. We sincerely wish to acknowledge the Management Board of BYFC who had given us favourable conditions, arranging logistics and supporting us during our data collections in the commune. We would also like to thank the villagers and communal authorities who had attended our interviews and group discussions. We greatly appreciated their openness to share the precious information.

REPORT ON GENDER ANALYSIS IN FORESTRY SECTOR

In Yen Son commune, Bao Yen district, Lao Cai

province

Lê Thị Mộng Phượng (team leader)

BYFC staffs (team member) SRD project officer (team member) TFT project officer (team member) Oxfam Quebec project officer

Hà Nội, May 2011

We would also like to thank the villagers and communal authorities who had attended our interviews and group discussions We greatly appreciated their openness to share the precious information.

On behalf of the team

Lê Thị Mộng Phượng

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement 2

Table of Contents 3

Executive summary 4

1 INTRODUCTION 5

Background 5

Objectives of the analysis 6

2 METHODOLOGY 7

Total 7

General information of the field study area - Yen Son commune 8

Advantages and difficulties of the analysis 8

Advantages 8

Difficulties 8

3 THE RESULTS OF THE ANALYSIS 10

Gender in politics 10

Gender in community 10

Gender in family 11

Tradition and customs influencing on gender equality 12

Gender in agricultural and forestry production 12

Domestic violence 13

Gender in forestry sector 13

4 EVALUTAION OF BYFC ACTIVITIES 17

Gender in management Board of BYFC 17

Gender in Human resources in the company level 18

Gender in Human resources in the production workshop level 18

5 RECOMMENDATIONS 20

Reommendation to BYFC 20

ANNEXES 21

List of Abbreviations

WU Women’s Union

Executive summary

The objectives of the analysis was to find out current gender issues in Yen Son commune, Bao Yen district and to raise and increase knowledge of OQ’s partners on gender issues The analysis was also expected to provide recommendations for OQ that will help the organization better develop and mainstream gender more effectively in the project activities

This analysis analyses the existing gender status of the commune with focus on gender in forestry; evaluating impacts of BYFC activities on women and men in gendered perspectives.Information from this analysis has shown that men still dominate forestry sector workforce

Their participation in this sector is regarded as main contributor to family income since they can do activities (including wood and bamboo logging) that generate better income than women While women’s involvement is under-valued or unrecognized as they are involved in non-forest product collection (vegetables, herbs, mushroom …) At the same time, they have

to do hard with long-hour and patient tasks In the forestry service sector, women are primarily employed as hired workers or in support roles They are rarely appointed for technical or management positions

Regarding capacity building in forestry sector, as gender mainstreaming has not been paid attention in the local government’s policies or plans, almost training courses were attended by men because they were family heads and expected to obtain the knowledge better than

women

With recommendations from the analysis, hopefully in the future, these recommendations will

be implemented that will support gender equality more promoted

1 INTRODUCTION

Background

Gender mainstreaming is a cross-cutting theme in all programmes/project of Oxfam Quebec as well as its partners We believe that development of a society cannot occur in a context of increasing inequality between women and men, nor without improved equity and increased participation of women

The forestry sector is traditionally male dominated and although women’s work in that sector consumes a lot of time and energy, it generates low income It is rarely recognized, or seen as less valuable work, and depreciates their involvement as such A study on gender factors in agriculture and forestry extension conducted in 1998 in Northern Vietnam, under the Vietnam-Finland Forestry Sector Co-operation Programme, found that the roles, responsibilities and access to and control over agriculture-forest resources are often different for men and women, according to their traditional roles and division of labour Women had fewer opportunities than men to receive extension services, participate in training courses and have access to credit Activities for increasing women’s income were not available The study concluded that consideration of gender issues is crucial when developing an efficient and effective extension system to respond to farmers’ needs in agriculture and forestry.

Since February 2011, Oxfam Quebec has collaborated with Center for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD) and The Forest Trust (TFT) and Bao Yen Forestry Company (BYFC) in implementing the Integrated Forest Management Project in Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province This project supports Oxfam-Québec’s new Gender Justice policy, adopted in Feb

2010, especially our second commitment regarding the support to partners for the implementation of organizational and developmental policies and practices that will foster gender equality and the advancement of women's and girls’ rights

Within the framework of the mentioned project, the consultant provided 3 working days for gender analysis in forestry sector She worked as team leader and facilitated the questionnaire review sessions

Objectives of the analysis

• Identify gender issues or situations in Yen Son commune that represents the ethnic and

socio-economical diversity of Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province

• Build partners’ capacity, with respect to gender issues, by involving them in the gender

analysis process Ensure ownership of the partner on the gender component of the project

• Assess recent impact of BYFC activities on men and women (both their staffs and hired

workers/villagers)

• Receive recommendations from the analysis to better integrate gender in the project

activities

2 METHODOLOGY

With a view to increasing partners’ knowledge on gender, this analysis was carried out by trainees (who already participated in the training organized in Mar.2011) and SRD, TFT, and

OQ project officers

In pursuing this objective, following methodology was applied:

• The facilitator refreshed contents of the training on gender basic concepts introduced in

March 2011

• There was a review session for participants to access the relevance of developed

questionnaires to their localities Then participants were seriously coached to how facilitate and collect data from the interviews/FGDs

• The FGDs and interviews facilitated by participants were led by the consultant and project

officers of SRD, TFT, and OQ

• At FGD and interview completion, a debriefing was organized to collect data and

information from the interview conductors

Information and data were collected from in-depth interviews and FGDs attended by 04 following groups:

(i) In-depth interviews with Vice director, some staffs of BYFC, vice chairman of communal

People’s committee, and agricultural extension officer

(ii) FGDs with WU staffs at village level

(iii) FGDs with communal authorities: chairman of People’s committee, agriculture extension

officer, legal officer, WU officer, village heads, and judicial officer

(iv) FGDs with hired workers/farmers in which they were separatedly divided into male and

female groups

Number of participants (FGDs and in-depth interview)

Table 1: Number of participants taking part in the FGDs and interviews

Types of group Total Men Wom

en

Kinh ethnic Tày ethnic men women men women

FGD 29 12 17 0 0 12 17 Interview 11 10 1 8 1 2 0

In analyzing the data and information, following issues were addressed:

• Analyzing gender division of labor at family level and forestry production level

• Analyzing the access, control over, and benefit (of men and women) from forestry

products and forestry production

• Analyzing policies of the local government regarding to land-use planning and forest

protection

• Analyzing influenced factors on gender equality

• Analyzing BYFC activities (focusing on contracts with hired workers) with regards to

gender

• Analyzing secondary information and data provided by the commune (mainly about

social-economic situation)

General information of the field study area - Yen Son commune

Yên Sơn is a mountainous commune with 4.0 km far from the district center This commune covers an area of 2,649ha of which 2,045.7ha is forestry land There are 7 ethnic minorties living in the commune, including Kinh, Day, Muong, Dzao, H’Mong, Nung, and Tay Each ethnicity has their own characteristics that contribute to diversified and mutli-cultural activities

Yên Sơn has population of 2,225 (equal to 517 households) There are unequal population density within the villages, approximately 70 persons per km2 People at working ages are 1,124 (equivalent to 50% of total population) Of this number, agricultural laborers account for 86,8% (976 workers) Information on forestry employment is not available

Advantages and difficulties of the analysis

Advantages

During the course of the analysis, following advantages were observed:

• Full support from OQ, TFT, SRD, Management board and staffs of BYFC

• Direct participation and effective coordination of 10 BYFC staffs who took part in the

analysis process, including: Hoàng Văn Cương, Phạm Xuân Quý, Nguyễn Trịnh Thái Ninh, Nguyễn Khắc Hậu, Hoàng Thị Yên, Lương Xuân Bách, Nguyễn Văn Toàn, Phan Văn Nhạc, Phạm Quốc Đảm, Lê Tiến Hân

• Full support from Yen Son commune authorities to organise the field meetings with the

local participants

Difficulties

• Short time of the analysis has limited the team to explore further information at other

aspects (social issues, other minorities, )

• Necessary secondary information was insufficient, such as education Statistic information

was not disaggrated

• The analysis conducted in parallel with the election preparation, leading to unvailability of

some communal officers

• The gender basic concept training and gender analysis were not organised back-to-back, as

a results, some participants forgot what they have learnt (from gender basic concept training)

• Participants were not familiar to facilitate group discussions or how to better raise

questions in the interviews

• As Yen Son commune was in the progress of ‘cultural commune’ selection, the consultant

team had difficulties in exploring such sensivitve information as domestic violence,

social evils (In order to be certified as ‘cultural village’, there should be no domestic

violence or similar issues happening in villages, this made the authorities fairly undisclosed the information).

3 THE RESULTS OF THE ANALYSIS

Gender in politics

Female proportion in management positions (30%) was slightly higher comparable to other communes However, women remained holding less important positions such as WU staff, Population and Family Planning staff, judical staff, ect Meanwhile other managing seats were appointed for males such as chairman of People’s committee, People’s Coucil,

“In comparison with other communes, the numbers of women in our management boards was quite high, around 30% In the past, the rate was very low Recently, we paid particular attention in building women’s capacities, recruiting women to replace some positions that were previously predominant by men like agricultural extention staff, judical staff, However, women’s positions were still less important than men For future plan, we already designed some quotas, built their specialty capacities to promote them at higher level, hopefully we will have women in People’s commiitee or People’s coucil as leaders ” (Male, Age: 50, education degree: 7/10- communal

authority group)

The explanation was that high-degree holder women migrate to work and the remaining women hold lower degree than men There are few famle members in the communal Communist Party Moreover, attention to build women’s capacities has not been significantly paid

“The reason why we lack of female officials was that we have not sufficiently paid attention to build women’s leadership capacities to be recognised for manament posts

In the past there was also a female vice chairwoman of communal Peole’s Committee but she already retired.” (Male, Age: 50, education degree: 7/10- communal authority

group)

Gender in community

The analysis information indicated that men are heads and representatives for both in family and community issues Ex: Men are the person to sign contracts with BYFC or attending community events/activities

“All the contracts were entitled the family heads who are male (up to 90%) Communal authorities often send invitations of meetings, loans/credit related-activities

to the family heads instead of other members.” (Female-male group)

“Regarding to community activities, either women or men can participate in weddings

or funerals but husbands will act as representatives while women’s involvement are considered as additional attendances or to support logistics only.” (Local authority group)

Concerning about roles of women and men in community, men would engage in important issues/activities that required leadership and decision-making (meetings on village convention/regulations) while women involved more in ffinance - related activities

“Men often participate in meetings where we discuss about our village convention/regulations to come up to some decisions Normally, family heads will be invited as they need to sign on behalf of their families for what we have com up to However, there are more women (up to 70%) involving in BYFC related- meetings and they also raise a lot of questions related to their families’ benefits.” (BYFC staff).

Most of women could participate in community meetings without family’s objection except some H’Mong ones These women would be violently treated, even beaten by their husbands

of they tried to go

“Domestic violence remains happening in H’Mong ethnic minorities Husbands often prevent their wives from coming to village meetings If women insisted to go, their husbands will shout or beat them Positively, this issue doesn’t happen in every family.” (Women, age: 51, education degree: 10/10)

Gender in family

- Decision making in family:

With family financial issues, women were money keepers (except H’Mong ethnic) and responsible for day-to-day expenditure What to buy and how to spend the money was brought

to table for discussion and agreement but husbands were predominant to decide

“In almost every family, husbands are considered as money makers and wives as money keepers Men often let theirs wives keep money as women are said to be good at keeping money but husbands will be final decision makers for how money will be spent.” (Female group).

Women are responsibly predominant for housework (making up to 70-80%).

The FGDs and interview information demonstrated that women took charge of child caring, cooking, clothes washing, wood collecting Men could support their wives but they would consider their support as “help” women, not their tasks Housework remained considered as women’s tasks

“In our village, child caring, clothe washing or wood collecting are mainly relied on women and girl children.” (Male group).

There was a tendency of housework sharing in nuclear young families

Housework sharing has positively changed with more participation of husbands in doing washing, child caring …in small and young families – nuclear families

“In the past, men would not do housework but now young husbands in small families will support, such as taking children to school, taking care their wives when they deliver…” (Female group).

There remains male priviledge in the analysis area.

It was believed that men were patrilineal descents who would worship the ancestors and take care their parents when they become old

“Most of the families regardless minorities, prefer sons to daughters They believe that when parents become elderly, they will be taken care by their sons, not their daughters who will leave the families soon after they get married.” (Female, male, and authority group)

Tradition and customs influencing on gender equality

There remained tradition and customs having negative influences on gender equality, which could be observed in the settings of around 30% of Tay female minorities were not allowed to have the same dinning tables with their fathers and brothers in-law This has caused less involvement of women in family issues, creating no opportunities for them to voice The situation was particular worse in multi-generation families For this minority, women remain facing up to ingrained gender stereotypes and partriachy systems

Furthermore, it was clearly distinguished the positions of men and women There would be seperate dinning tables for them, women often had their meals in the kitchens while men’s were on main tables

“This custom has lasted for thousands of years and remains taking place in about 30% Tay minority families When the bride moves to her husband’s house, she is supposed not to have meals with her father and brother in-law There is discrimination against women, leading to their poor involvement in decision making, also meaning that only men or the fathers (in multi-generation families) will have power.” (Men, age: 50, authority group)

“If there are any community parties organised, almost Tay and H’Mong women will have seperate dinning tables, or having their meals after men finish theirs, or at the kitchen Even women have to eat remaining food left by men.” (Female group).

Male preference:

For H’Mong and Dao minorities, they strongly preferred sons to daughters They would like to have not one son but many for ‘safe reason’ (in case of death) If they couldn’t have sons, they could adopt or buy and priotize sons to daughters

“H’Mong and Dao prefer sons to daughters, if they can’t deliver sons, they will adopt

or buy Normally they would like to have many sons for ‘safe’ (in case they may lose any), in our village, many families bought 2 sons and all property will be given to adoptive sons and nothing is given to their daughters.” (Female, age: 30, education degree: bachelor)

Inheritance given to the sons

Almost the parents would inherite residence land, agricultural land, and forestry land to the sons, not the daughters If the daughters got married, they were given some small gifts such as clothes, blankets, ect There was few daughters inherited agricultural land, exceptionaly some families occupy lot of land

Seriously, H’Mong women were not allowed to keep money and had no power in the family

“You are literate and you always stay at home, therefore, you don’t need money As a result, I (husband) will keep and spend money” (Female group).

Gender in agricultural and forestry production

There was discrepancy in gender division of labor Men were responsible for such heavey tasks as land preparation, carrying, while women did ‘light’ jobs that required longer hours and patience like weeding, forest caring.

“Women work more at family level, like husbandry They cultivate maize, beens, and cassava Men focus more on forest activities Both men and women can work as hired workers, men can work as porters/transporters, women do lighter tasks which are available near their homes Their contribution to the families are the same.” (Male group)

Domestic violence

Domestic violence remained happening and getting more serious in H’Mong and Dao ethnic minorities However, the analysis team had difficulty exploring in-depth information on this issue as Yen Son commune is in the process of being certified as ‘Cultural village’

“Domestic violence still happens in H’Mong and Dao minorities in particular For example: after coming home from meetings, women are often insulted or beaten by their husbands Similarly if they try to stop their husbands from gambling There are village reconcilation to solve this issue and they hardly bright these cases to commune level.(Female, age: 51, education degree: 10/10)

Gender in forestry sector

Gender in access and control over land

Land use certificates (LUC) were entitled both husbands and wives (valid from 2004) However, having names in LUC didn’t really improve women’s positions as men reserve the rights to sell, buy, and inherite the land

“Before 2004, only family heads were the land owners of LUC But since 2004 up to now, both men and women have their names in LUCs.” (Famle, age: 54)

“Since 2004, LUC titled both men and women names but women’s roles were not really changed Men will be the persons to decide the land for selling, buying or transfering,

…” (Land management officer)

- Unequal allowance of land in divorce

There were at least 3 divorce cases for past 10 ten years The spouses would divide the property themselves, however, women would hardly benefit from their shared property in most of the case

“There was a case that vife took a bank loan for her husband’s 6 year-Medicine studies

At the study completion, the husband got married to another woman but they were still

in debt to the bank, so they had to sell all land, house to pay off And the husband was in charge of feeding 2 their children This result in the fact that the wife had nothing with her then.” (Land management officer)

Gender in land use planning

In 2004, in collaboration with Hanoi Agriculture of University, the commune planned the land use, which was revised in 2010 The information of land use plans were disseminated and puplicly listed In land use planning – related meetings, women accounted for 50% - 70% in some other communes

During land-use planning process, top-down approach was applied, which has limited villagers’ involvement There were only some steps (like planning on the maps) carried in households allowing more men’s participation

“There were dicussion among the couples of how to use or cultivate the land but men are the final decision makers.” (Land management officer)

Gender in agriculture and forestry training

There was few training on forestry organised in our commune, since 2005, only 2 training

on cinnamon and Acacia auriculiformis plantation were organized in 2005 and 2008 respectively Men benefited more from the training, making up 70% Traditionally, the training often enrolled fewer women than men who were regarded as family heads and also

invited and expected to sign contracts

“Cinamon plantation project funded by the province was introduced in 2008 Men were invited to sign the contract and to attend training If men were not available, women can replace, however, participants were almost men, accounting for 70%”(Male, age 45, education degree: 10/10)

The training was claimed to be very theoretical and not participatory While women were normally less knowledgeable than men and busy with housework so they often let their husbands to attend the training

“The training was very theoretical and crowded Women were not familiar communicating with such many peoples, they were also very shy, many of them are not fluent at Kinh (Vietnamese) language (H’Mong particular), so they hesitant to take part in the training.”(Man, age 50, education degree: 10/10)

Regarding BYFC’s training, the training and coaching sessions were usually organized to-back, which were highly appreciated by participants as they found the knowledge understandable Female propotion in the training changed seasonally, more men at crop seasons and more women at non-crop time as men looked for job outside their homes

back-“We often organise training and coaching (or farmer-field school) together in the fields Therefore, either men or women can practise and apply what they have learnt However, male and female proportions of these activities depends on training organisation timing.” (Male staff of BYFC)

Gender in benefiting forestry products

Men were mainly in charge of exploiting and also benefiting forest products while women picked up non-wooden forest products (bamboo, medicine, vegetables, ) The table below showed more details on this situtation