The role of indigenous women in forest conservation in upland Kalinga province, Northern Philippines

Article XII, section 14 of the Philippine Constitution expressly provides that “the State shall protect working women by providing safe and healthful working conditions, taking into account their maternal functions, and such facilities and opportunities that will enhance their welfare and enable them to realize their full potential in the service of the nation’. The provision explicitly provides the development of women as partners for nation building. In the light, women irrespective of creed, complexion, stature in life and ethnic affiliation should be groom to be in the frontline with their male counterparts for local and national dev elopement. In the different research situs of the study, most current community development projects have a built-in gender component. Despite the presence of strong women advocates and organizations for women empowerment, most are just written on books and other documents just to gather dust on the beams or archives. Mainstreaming the women for community development and merely getting the women to the policy-making table is not enough, more so if it comes at the cost of promoting a simplistic and often wildly considered and inaccurate scenery of gender viz-a-viz environmental protection. This study highlights the importance of rural women in the management of sustainable ecosystem focusing on the important roles of women in environmental protection and conservation; their expectations, roles and the challenges towards more sustainable ecological and environmental friendly indigenous communities conducive for the indigenous peoples. The research situs are the indigenous communities or villages with active women organizations engaged in forest conservation and protection in the province of Kalinga.