Women's empowerment through community based solid waste management groups : case studies from Bangkok and Nakhon Pathom, Thailand | |
| Author | Shankar, Jagriti |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.GD-08-17 |
| Subject(s) | Refuse and refuse disposal--Thailand--Bangkok Refuse and refuse disposal--Thailand--Nakhon Pathom |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Gender and Development Studies, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. GD-08-17 |
| Abstract | Community based solid waste management groups play important role in protecting environment of the community and ensure good waste management practices in community people. They also provide an important venue for solidarity of community people. The study aimed to find out how women and men get involved in community based waste management groups and whether women are getting empowered from their involvement. The initial research revealed that although all the studied groups were community based groups, but they differed in their organizational characteristics as well as in women’s and men’s involvement. So, in order to catch the underlying relations between organizational characteristics and women’s empowerment, the groups were divided into two categories, commercial groups and voluntary groups. Even within one category the groups had different features because of the differences in their origin, objectives, activities, municipality support and leader’s perceptions. As the study proceeded, it revealed that groups carry gender stereotypes in work and women and men do not have equal participation and equal benefits from these community groups. Men take up the waste management field as a career option. They work as street vendors, as paid labor, and as waste merchant. On the other hand, women do the same work voluntarily for the betterment of community and for the purpose of merit making. Although it demanded a substantial amount of labor from women but there were no economic benefits for them. Other factors which affected women’s participation were income level, existence of garbage bank, municipality support and community perception towards women’s work. For the empowerment issue, it was found that volunteer groups were proven more empowering for women as they involved women at management level. Finally, the study concludes with recommendations about encouraging more women to opt waste management as career option and participate at management level, especially for the women who are from low income group. For those women waste management groups can become a source of economic empowerment. |
| Year | 2008 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. GD-08-17 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Gender and Development Studies (GD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Kusakabe, Kyoko; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Doneys, Philippe;Ranjith Perera; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Partial Fellowship from AIT; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2008 |