Botany and Women: The Role of Gender in Biodiversity Management and Indigenous Knowledge

Traditional knowledge and indigenous rights related to plants are sex-diverse everywhere, and gender inequities are evident in the present 21st century. This paper discusses how women dominate plant biodiversity management through their work as housewives, plant gatherers, home gardeners, herbalists, seed keepers, and informal plant breeders. However, because most of the plant usage, management, and conservation take place in the domestic sphere and because the main values of plant genetic resources are localized and non-financial, they are mostly invisible to outsiders and are readily devalued. This paper aims to evaluate the contribution of women in biodiversity management and conservation of traditional indigenous knowledge. Gender prejudice has been prevalent, according to scientific study on human-plant interactions. The domestic domain, gender relations between men and women, and the significance of plant biodiversity for women's status and welfare continue to be largely ignored by conservation policies and programmes. It is of utmost importance to understand the role of women in conservation of plant genetic resources. This paper thus attempts to provide few positive steps taken in this direction.