Representation increases women's influence in climate deliberations: Evidence from community-managed forests in Malawi
Women's inclusion is now the norm in global and local initiatives to combat climate change. We examine how women's representation affects climate deliberations using the case of community-managed forests in Malawi. We run a lab-in-the-field experiment randomly varying the gender composition of six-m...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
Wiley
2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174973 |
| _version_ | 1855532224115376128 |
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| author | Clayton, Amanda Dulani, Boniface Kosec, Katrina Robinson, Amanda Lea |
| author_browse | Clayton, Amanda Dulani, Boniface Kosec, Katrina Robinson, Amanda Lea |
| author_facet | Clayton, Amanda Dulani, Boniface Kosec, Katrina Robinson, Amanda Lea |
| author_sort | Clayton, Amanda |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Women's inclusion is now the norm in global and local initiatives to combat climate change. We examine how women's representation affects climate deliberations using the case of community-managed forests in Malawi. We run a lab-in-the-field experiment randomly varying the gender composition of six-member groups asked to deliberate on policies to combat local overharvesting. We find that any given woman has relatively more influence in group deliberations when women make up a larger share of the group, a change driven by men's assessments of women's influence. Women's presence also shifts the content of deliberations toward prospective solutions for which women have socially recognized expertise (cooking and replanting). Despite these changes, women and men do not prefer different deforestation policies, and women's presence does not meaningfully affect group decisions. Our work demonstrates how women's presence shapes climate deliberations but also calls into question claims that women's inclusion will necessarily affect climate decisions. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace174973 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| publisherStr | Wiley |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1749732026-01-02T15:32:42Z Representation increases women's influence in climate deliberations: Evidence from community-managed forests in Malawi Clayton, Amanda Dulani, Boniface Kosec, Katrina Robinson, Amanda Lea women climate forest governance gender deforestation capacity development Women's inclusion is now the norm in global and local initiatives to combat climate change. We examine how women's representation affects climate deliberations using the case of community-managed forests in Malawi. We run a lab-in-the-field experiment randomly varying the gender composition of six-member groups asked to deliberate on policies to combat local overharvesting. We find that any given woman has relatively more influence in group deliberations when women make up a larger share of the group, a change driven by men's assessments of women's influence. Women's presence also shifts the content of deliberations toward prospective solutions for which women have socially recognized expertise (cooking and replanting). Despite these changes, women and men do not prefer different deforestation policies, and women's presence does not meaningfully affect group decisions. Our work demonstrates how women's presence shapes climate deliberations but also calls into question claims that women's inclusion will necessarily affect climate decisions. 2026 2025-06-04T19:07:10Z 2025-06-04T19:07:10Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174973 en Open Access Wiley Clayton, Amanda; Dulani, Boniface; Kosec, Katrina; and Robinson, Amanda Lea. Representation increases women's influence in climate deliberations: Evidence from community-managed forests in Malawi. American Journal of Political Science. Article in press. First published online June 3, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12994 |
| spellingShingle | women climate forest governance gender deforestation capacity development Clayton, Amanda Dulani, Boniface Kosec, Katrina Robinson, Amanda Lea Representation increases women's influence in climate deliberations: Evidence from community-managed forests in Malawi |
| title | Representation increases women's influence in climate deliberations: Evidence from community-managed forests in Malawi |
| title_full | Representation increases women's influence in climate deliberations: Evidence from community-managed forests in Malawi |
| title_fullStr | Representation increases women's influence in climate deliberations: Evidence from community-managed forests in Malawi |
| title_full_unstemmed | Representation increases women's influence in climate deliberations: Evidence from community-managed forests in Malawi |
| title_short | Representation increases women's influence in climate deliberations: Evidence from community-managed forests in Malawi |
| title_sort | representation increases women s influence in climate deliberations evidence from community managed forests in malawi |
| topic | women climate forest governance gender deforestation capacity development |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174973 |
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