ABSTRACT
Women's participation in Nepal's community forestry has gained global attention. However, there is inadequate evidence and analysis to demonstrate whether and how women's leadership has been enabled and supported by the policies. This chapter examines women's leadership status in community forest user groups, drawing on the gender analysis workshops (n = 4) and interviews with women leaders (n = 31) from community forests in the mid-hills of Nepal. While community forestry policies have provisions for supporting and enabling women's leadership, in practice, women's leadership is marginalized mainly because of the tokenistic approach of policy implementation only to bring women into mostly subordinate leadership positions. Occasionally, some women are offered critical positions in the CFUGs for policy compliance, not necessarily to enable their leadership agency or to recognize their capacity and contributions. Underlying this marginalization is not just the policy-implementation gap but also shaped by entrenched cultural, social, and political domains creating barriers to women's meaningful participation and leadership. The chapter highlights the pitfalls and potentials for community forestry to advance women's leadership in practice, concluding with some strategies to address the policy implementation gap and developing women's agency in Nepal's changing cultural and political landscapes.
