Vol. 9 No. 1 (2024): Special issue on Women’s empowerment in natural resources management in the Himalayas

The agro-forestry entrepreneurial ecosystem that has already been strained by climate change has been further aggravated by COVID-19 and women face the major brunt of burden. Some of the impacts on women’s entrepreneurial environment include increased care responsibilities, loss of jobs, collapse of women-led enterprises and decline in entrepreneurial sales. This has had a disproportionate impact on women that cuts across different ages, castes, ethnicities, income groups and educational levels. As a result of constricting environments at the socio-cultural, political and economic domains, women’s entrepreneurial capabilities, productive work and financial resources have been constrained. In response, women entrepreneurs and researchers alike are increasingly exploring perspectives on what constitutes a gender responsive and shock resilient entrepreneurial ecosystem for women in Nepal and the wider Himalayan context, striving to better understand how such a supportive environment can be created.

These and connected issues are placed within a wider empirical context and academic debate related to gendered socio-ecologies. This special issue looks to highlight different perspectives on women’s empowerment as related to intersectional relations including gender, relations to other species as well as diverse local power relations. Insights from initiatives resulting in transformed gender relations are particularly welcome. Against this backdrop, Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS) is pleased to call for papers for a special issue of the New Angle: Nepal Journal of Social Science and Public Policy entitled, “Women’s empowerment in natural resources management in the Himalayas”. We welcome researchers and other academics, professionals, national and international organisations, and graduate students working in Nepal and other Himalayan countries to submit their research articles in this special issue.