“Women with Wings”: An Experience of Participatory Monitoring in a Natural Protected Area

Abstract

The complexity of environmental issues focuses on the multiplicity of actors and interests that are integrated in the management of socio-ecological systems. This approach has been analyzed from different perspectives. In recent decades one of the approaches that have been incorporated into discourses, research, and public policies at the international and national levels is the gender perspective. The objective of this study is to evaluate the concept of gender, focusing on female leadership in the environmental management actions and competencies of the “Mujeres con Alas” (“Women with Wings”) group. This community group was founded in 2015, in view of the need to integrate women in conservation activities within the protected area “Reserva de la Biosfera Bahía de Los Ángeles,” located on the East coast of Baja California, Mexico. Currently, a group of 11 women carries out monitoring, bird tourism, and environmental education activities. For this study, an ethnography was made with semi-structured interviews and focal groups to document and explore the role of female leadership in environmental management. The group’s strengths, obstacles, and areas of opportunity were identified throughout the bird conservation activities. With this analysis, it was shown how the “Women with Wings” have taken advantage of the given natural resources and they emerged as agents of change through the opportunities of environmental management, with collective actions in favor of both the development and well-being of their community and the natural resource conservation.