wl-8114-Examining Women’s Participation in Van Panchayats of Uttarakhand, India - A Gender as Seriality Analysis

Van Panchayats (VPs) have facilitated collaborative forest management in India since the 1930s. Despite active involvement in forest-related movements, and government policy promoting representation, women's low involvement in VPs has been understudied. This article integrates the gender as seriality framework with the concepts of practical and strategic needs to critically examine women's representation in leadership roles and their participation in community forums, focusing on six VPs in Almora district, Uttarakhand. Analysing survey results, along with personal interviews and archival data, I contend that women's low participation cannot be explained solely by socio-cultural norms and state interference. Instead, the subsistence livelihood needs of households are crucial to women's involvement in VPs. Furthermore, this low participation should be understood as an expression of women's agency within the broader political economy of development in the region.. This article adds to the existing participation frameworks in natural resource governance by emphasizing agency and analyzing participation at the intersection of agency and structure.