gender issues and bushmeat

Gender Issues and BushmeatN. Van Vliet, R. Nasi

IUFRO-FORNESSA Conference, Nairobi, June 2012

What are the roles and contributions of men and women in the use and trade of bushmeat, along the bushmeat trade chain? From hunting to consumption, passing through trade and food preparation, do they differ?

Bushmeat

BasinDense Forest(km2)

Population (x1000)

Consumption (tonne/meat/yr)

Extracted (t/yr)Rural Urban Rural Urban

Amazon3,938,00

0 14,425 24,352 909,000 small 1,299,000

Congo1,612,00

0 57,046 41,199 2,909,000 289,000 4,569,000

Nasi, Van Vliet, Taber 2011

If bushmeat consumption in the Congo Basin was to be replaced by locally produced beef, an area as large as 25 million hectares might have to be converted to pastures.

The Bushmeat Market Chain

Hunters Transporters

RetailersFinal consumers in rural areas

Final consumers in urban areas

LA

Prey

Wholesalers

Hunting

Is generally considered a ”man” only activity

Women are sometimes directly involved in hunting…..

• Romanoff (1983) describes Matses women in the Peruvian Amazon who accompany their husbands, helping to chase and kill animals

• Hurtado et al. (1985) indicate that Ache women in Paraguay help men search for and transport captured animals, occasionally killing animals themselves.

• Biesele and Barcaly (2001) describe excellent Ju/'hoan women trackers of large game who accompany their husbands and contribute substantially to their hunting success.)

Hunting

© Kumpel N.

Women often push or encourage hunting

"Women are the arms of the dibouka” [throw of the nets]

(McCreedy, 1994:15)

The Aka conducted a bobanda ritual when net-hunting was not successful. Men organized the ritual and pleaded with women to

participate because women's enthusiasm and energy were viewed as crucial to the success of the ritual and future net-

hunting.

Hunting

Women often push for hunting

“If a certain man goes hunting but I don’t go, my wife might even start loving that man.”(Man, age 32)

Tanzania, FZS: Asanterabi Lowassa ([email protected])

Hunting




LA FILIÈRE VIANDE DE BROUSSE

Prey


Wholesalers

TransportingMen are mostly involved in transport from the source to urban areas

but women are often involved in transport when buying in the forest to sell on the markets





Prey


Wholesalers

Wholesalers and retailersWomen are invloved in the trade from retailers, wholesalers, restaurants,

prepared bushmeat meals sold in markets or in the street

Income

Purchasing: the income generated by women is invested in food

“In Kisangani, protein and bushmeat consumption by children was not correlated with the father´s profession (Correspondence Factor Analysis, Wilks Lambda test, protein: p=0,96; bushmeat: p=0,7) nor with the mother’s profession (protein: p=0,1; bushmeat: p=0,3) (Table 5). However, children whose mother had an income generating activity, ate more proteins and significantly more bushmeat than the others (protein: p=0,14; bushmeat: p=0,05).”

van Vliet et al., submitted

In urban areas:

Income

Purchasing: the income generated by women is invested in food

”Over half of the money spent by men in the village shop was on alcohol and cigarettes, and the amount and proportion of income spent on these items increased substantially with increases in individual hunting offtake. By contrast, the majority of purchases made by women were of food, but their food purchases decreased actually and proportionally with increased household hunting offtake”.

In rural areas:

HuntersTransporters

RetailersFinal consumers in rural areasFinal consumers in urban areas


Prey


Wholesalers

Bushmeat preferences by gender

women preferences

cane rat5%

porcupine61%

blue duiker3%

red duikers5%

pangolin6%

monkey10%

Consumption

South west Cameroun, van Vliet and Nasi, unpublished) (N=345)

men preferences

cane rat11%

porcupine46%

blue duiker2%

red duikers9%

pangolin11%

monkey6%

Bats, nile monitor, fox and gorilla were only mentioned by men; elephants were clearly prefered by women (78% of the votes were from women)

Bushmeat consumption patterns by gender

Consumption

Uganda: Oluput et al., 2009


Consumption

”Men were significantly more likely to report having eaten wildmeat in the last 12 months (p<0,01). However, gender played no significant role in consumption wild animal derived medicinal products. Both men and women consider wildmeat as a male food, typically associated with male activities. Most female consumers interviewed had been invited to eat wildmeat by male colleagues, friends or family members and were generally less enthousiastic and less knowledgeble about wildmeat than male consumers”

Vietnam: Drury, 2011


Consumption

”Results indicated that age and sex of the respondent did not affect consumption, but ethnic group was statistically significant for the three study species.”

Consumption taboos for men and women

Consumption

Women that eat bay duiker could have periods for ever(Kota, Gabon)


Consumption

Women that eat Neotragus while pregnant will have epileptic children (Kota, Gabon)


Consumption

Young men and women that eat yellow back duiker will never marry, only elder people consume it

(Kota, Gabon)

Conclusions• The overall trade chain is gender balanced• Differences in the contribution of bushmeat to

income: In Urban areas, bushmeat contributes to income for women, whereas in rural areas it contributes to the income of men.

• Women invest more on food, whereas men tend to spend more money on non necessities

• There are gender differences in bushmeat consumption patterns

• Knowledge on these relative gender roles is key to the development of alternatives to ensure that measures target the right audienc

Thank you

gender issues and bushmeat

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