Amid growing emphasis on community-based approaches to natural resource management, there are concerns about the lack of women participation in communal decision-making. We analyze the association between participation of women in decision-making of forest user groups in Ethiopia and several forest management outcomes. We combine longitudinal survey, administrative and forest inventory data and find that participation of women in executive committees (i.e., formal decision-making) is associated with greater forest benefits, and an improved (perceived and actual) condition of the forest. Alternatively, the association between women participation in group-level meetings and outcomes is not robust. This implies that women participation in formal decision-making is required to reach forest conservation and livelihood gains.

在日益强调以社区为基础的自然资源管理方法的同时，人们对缺乏妇女参与社区决策表示担忧。我们分析了埃塞俄比亚妇女参与森林用户群体决策与若干森林管理成果之间的关联。我们结合纵向调查、行政和森林清查数据，发现女性参与执行委员会（即正式决策）与更大的森林收益和改善的（感知和实际）森林状况相关。或者，女性参与小组级会议与结果之间的关联并不牢固。这意味着需要妇女参与正式决策才能实现森林保护和生计收益。