ABSTRACT
The concept of social inclusion refers to the involvement of the populace in the structures and institutions of society, so that a shared sense of public good can be created and debated ( Cleavey 2000). Debates about inclusion center on pragmatic and political concerns. The World Commission on Environment and Development (1987, 65) argues that the first step in pursuing sustainability is the creation of a political system that secures effective citizen participation in decisionmaking. Although policy recommendations generally use terms such as “collaboration,” “people-centered,” or “involving all stakeholders,” little explicit and systematic thought has been given to how these objectives could be achieved, especially as regards the participation of women and other disadvantaged groups in decisionmaking (Meinzen-Dick 1997, 3). Nabane and Matzke (1997), for example, described how women continue to be sidelined in decisionmaking for community management of wildlife, despite efforts to target and empower them. In this chapter, I explore why existing efforts at inclusion have had limited success and, in particular, why women seem reluctant to take up opportunities to participate in structures of decisionmaking.
