Introduction

Abstract

Forest ecosystems provide a number of goods and services vital for human life, livelihoods, socio-cultural activities and economies (MEA, 2005; Patterson and Coelho, 2009; Persha et al., 2011). The supplies of these goods and services are contingent upon human actions associated with forests, such as policy and legal frameworks, tenure arrangements, forest management systems, governance structure and rights-based activism, which can collectively be referred to as forestry ‘institutions’ (Robbins, 1998; Springate-Baginski and Blaikie, 2007). Institutions contribute to good governance for forestry. These institutions may be formal or informal, legal or customary. They affect and are affected by people who are dependent on forests for their livelihoods and economies. While institutions are crucial for the protection, management and use of forest resources, the roles and responsibilities of the actors and stakeholders with defined access to, control over and use of forest resources matter for forestry sector governance (FAO, 2011; Larson et al., 2010; RRI, 2009). The categories of actors associated with the access to, control over and use of forest resources include, but are not limited to, males or females, landlords or tenants, industrialized or developing countries, bureaucracy or communities, state or private sector and so on (Larson et al., 2010; RRI, 2009). A cross-cutting category among these actors is the category of ‘women’. However, the roles and responsibilities of women in forestry sector governance or institutions are one of the most contested issues in recent decades (Agarwal, 2010a, 2010b; Sarker and Das, 2002; Shiva, 1989; Sunderland et al., 2014; FAO, 2006; Coutinho-Sledge, 2015).