An analysis of the literature on sustainability reveals that community decision making is an
important component in the definition and implementation of sustainability. Although the
importance of participation by all members of a community is stressed in the literature, analysis of
marginalized groups focuses mainly on class and culture. When gender lines are explored, it is
mostly within the context of the developing world. The purpose of this research was to examine
the nature of women's participation in defining and implementing sustainability. This exploration
had three objectives: to define effective public participation in the context of local level
environmental decision making, to identify barriers to women inherent in public participation
processes associated with environmental planning decisions and to make recommendations which
eliminate barriers to women's participation in planning decisions.
Barriers to women's participation were divided into three categories: institutional, community and
societal. This research used a case study approach with multiple sources of evidence to examine
these barriers. The public participation process involved in developing the Squamish Estuary
Management Plan was analyzed to explore the nature and extent of women's participation.
Research methods included document and newspaper coverage analysis, interviews and
workshops. These revealed that specific barriers exist which discourage and prevent women from
participating in planning decisions. At an institutional level, these included lack of trust,
centralized decision-making, poor communication structures, an atmosphere that was not childfriendly
and the failure to present the Plan in a way which was relevant to women's lives.
Community barriers consisted of the fear of retaliation and the large number of community issues.
Societal barriers identified were the devaluing of women's voices, level of income and the
restrictions caused by women's societal roles. These barriers reduced the effectiveness of the
public participation process. Results were used to develop a series of recommendations about
how to encourage women's participation in decision-making, ensuring that women in communities
are involved in shaping and defining sustainability.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/3690 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Avis, Wendy |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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