Engaging the knowledge-gender link: The importance of rural women's ethnobotanical knowledge for local conservation in southern Ethiopia

Background/Question/Methods

Women's traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is noted by many scholars to be unique and important for local conservation and development planning. Although TEK-integration is inherent to ethnobotanical research, in Ethiopia, the knowledge-gender link has not been fully explored, and few studies focus on women's distinct plant knowledge. We catalogued rural, indigenous women's knowledge of a wide range of plant uses in south-central Ethiopia, conducted through picture identification of 337 local plants. 

Results/Conclusions

One hundred fifty-eight plant species were identified, constituting 73 families, with the top five families being Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Solanaceae, Acanthaceae, and Rosaceae. An array of uses were identified ranging from food and forage to honey production and cosmetics. The most prevalent use noted (approximately 42%) was human medicine, followed by honey production (approximately 23%), and veterinary applications (approximately 19%). This was in stark contrast to plant knowledge of men in the same region. The most prevalent use noted by men (approximately 60%) was plants providing forage for livestock, followed by firewood (approximately 17%), and construction (approximately 14%). Additionally, 19 plant species identified by men as having “no use” were found to have uses by woman. Incorporating TEK in conservation planning efforts can be helpful in determining critical conservation targets and understanding local valuation of different ecosystem services (i.e. the benefits people receive from the environment). Homogenizing TEK of a given community by failing to include women's knowledge may overlook important distinctions in ecosystem service utilization and conservation priorities. This study reveals the important contribution of rural women's traditional plant knowledge in the Bale Mountains, and the potential benefits of including this gender-distinct understanding of local flora in community-based conservation planning.