Do Husbands and Wives Engaging in Forest Governance Encounter the Same Constraints and Opportunities Within Cherangany Hills Forest, Kenya?

Aim: Building on the ‘Gender Box’ theoretical framework, men and women engaging in forest governance encounter constraints at micro, meso and macro-scale levels. This paper investigates and compares the constraints and opportunities faced by husbands and wives participating in forest governance within Cherangany Hills Forest, Kenya. Methods: A concurrent triangulation research design was adopted, and semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 280 Community Forest Association (CFA) members who were randomly sampled while 35 key informants who were purposively sampled were interviewed. The quantitative data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviations and presented in the form of tables, counts and percentages while the qualitative data was analyzed using themes and presented in the form of narrations and synthesized text. Results: It was confirmed that wives were discouraged by their husbands from attending CFA meetings, speaking during CFA meetings, and taking CFA leadership roles. Time constrained both husbands and wives from attending CFA meetings, and seeking CFA leadership positions. Husbands were more likely than their wives not to engage in forest patrol due to low remuneration. Long distance to the venue of meetings was a hindrance for wives rather than husbands from attending CFA meetings. Both husbands and wives were less affected by inadequate knowledge and training from engaging in CFA activities. Wifes did not engage in tree planting and forest patrol because it was against the cultural norms and were perceived as fearful and weak respectively. To surmount some of the challenges, opportunities available included: gender affirmative action, modernization, formal education, financial support, training, proximity to the forest, assistance from relatives, presence of forest guards, and intra-household gender bargaining strategies. Conclusion: Intra-household gender relations, inadequate time, long distance and gender norms of behaviour hindered wives more than husbands from attending, speaking and leading during CFA meetings while time constraints hindered husbands from engaging in forest patrols. Recommendations: Community-Based Forest Organizations and Kenya Forest Service (KFS) should use mobile phones, WhatsApp app and Google meetings to organize and enhance the dissemination of information. Non-Governmental Organizations and Kenya Forest Services should increase the financial support, capacity building and awareness creation, training and remuneration to forest scouts as well as support livelihood activities.