12
Gender and Social Capital: The
Importance of Gender Differences for
the Maturity and Effectiveness of Natural
Resource Management Groups
Olaf Westermann, Jacqueline Ashby and Jules Pretty
Introduction
It is increasingly well established that social capital is an important factor in build-
ing and maintaining collective action (Krishna and Uphoff, 1998; Pretty, 2003;
Pretty and Ward, 2001; Putnam et al, 1993; Scoones, 1998; Woolcock, 1998),
which is in turn fundamental to substantial and long-term changes in natural
resource management (NRM) (Agrawal and Gibson, 1999; Baland and Platteau,
1996; Bromley, 1992; Korten, 1986; Ostrom, 1990; Pretty, 2002; Pretty and
Smith, 2004; Reddy, 2000; Steins and Edwards, 1999; Wade, 1987). Analysis of
causal relationships among improved resource management and collective action
has hitherto centred on the existence or creation of appropriate institutional and
property arrangements (Bromley, 1992; Leach et al, 1999; Olson, 1965; Ostrom,
1990), but there is an emerging recognition that relations of trust and common
values are important to collective action (Harris and Renzo, 1997; Lyon, 2000;
Pretty and Ward, 2001; Uphoff, 2000). Particular attention has been given to the
concept of social capital, broadly understood as a social resource ‘upon which peo-
ple draw when pursuing different livelihood strategies requiring coordination and
collective action’ (Scoones, 1998, p8). However, as Krishna (2000) concludes in an
analysis of the implications of differences in social capital, little is known about
how to tailor programmes to building social capital based on such differences. In
this chapter, we argue that the role of gender differences may be of particular impor-
tance to understand and create social capital in order to sustain NRM groups.
Although the gender dimensions of NRM have been identified as key factors
Reprinted from World Development, Vol 33 (11), Westermann O, Ashby J and Pretty J, Gender and
social capital: The importance of gender differences for the maturity and effectiveness of natural
resource management groups, 1783–1789, Copyright (2005), with permission from Elsevier.