TREES AND WOMEN
By Shoma A. Chatterji

"I have sold trees for the marriage of my three daughters. Three mango trees and three jack fruit trees were cut down for the purpose. I was worried. There was no tree left for my sons. I decided to plant more trees. But from where would I get the seed? I went from door to door in the neigbourhood. I collected seedlings from the roadside or from anywhere I could find them. Now, as I have planted these trees, I am the owner as long as I am alive. True, the land belongs to my husband. It is also true that I have planted the trees. I am running the family." Thus spoke Moymun Bibi, wife of a day-labourer in Tangail, Bangladesh.

I have planted trees for my own use and for the use of my children and grandchildren. I would collect seeds from others. If I ate a single mango, I would at once plant the seed. I also took care of the seedlings. I am the owner of all the seeds I have planted. My sons will be heir to these after I die. They cannot go to my daughter because she will leave the home after she gets married" said 65-year-old Sabirun Bibi. These women were respondent-subjects of an interesting research project in Bangladesh. The report has been published recently. However, both Moymun Bibi and Sabirun Bibi are exceptions to the rest of their clan - women, who are diffident about their ownership rights to the trees they themselves have planted. The kind of strength  and claim demonstrated by Moymum and Sabirun are ascribed to their age and their relationship with their respective husbands.

The contribution of women to the productive activities of the family, especially in developing economies and rural pockets, goes totally unrecognized. How are women linked to the preservation of the environment through trees? A research team in Bangladesh, comprised of Farida Akhter, Shima Das Shimu and Md, Ashraf Uddin released their findings on a study aimed at finding out answers to this tricky, yet, seemingly simple question. The group investigated the role of women in tree planting in general and their relationship with trees in particular in Bangladesh. The study placed women against the backdrop of their subordinate position, backed by their lack of access of private property. "Women's issues and concerns are virtually absent in most studies on forestry and trees. The present study addresses the role of women in the use and management of trees in agrarian rural households" the report says. The village selected for an exploratory study of this nature was Kaijuri village in Tangail, conducted in the last two years of the 80s decade. The selection was based on the fact that this village prided on the private ownership and planting of trees in abundance, some family plots holding around 200 trees of 20 different kinds.

"We relied mostly on qualitative information given by the women because we found this to be more meaningful when explained by the women in their own language. We took for the purpose of our study, three families from the middle-class with five to seven acres of cultivable land. Nine families from the lower middle class, with a maximum cultivable land ownership of 2.5 acres. Thirteen poor families with tiny plots of homestead land. And two very poor families with no cultivable land at all" said Farida.

The findings of the study revealed that contrary to popular notion, women from poor families do not destroy trees for firewood. Trees are in fact destroyed by field contractors, traders in firewood and timber merchants. Women feel emotionally drained when they are suspected cutting down trees because, being tree planters themselves, they have a deep sentimental attachment towards trees planted in their own homestead.They mainly use dry leaves and broken branches which have already fallen from the main tree, as firewood. But this is obviously not enough for their needs. The problem of shortage of firewood therefore, is a woman's issue.

The study further discovered that one major motive which pushes women to plant trees is that they look upon trees as a means of financial support in case their husbands fail to support them. But whether this was a general trend or whether this was set off by the Islamic faith that permitted a man to take on more than one wife and decree divorce by saying talaq thrice was not proved through the study.

The ownership right to land and the ownership right to trees is a difficult question in influencing marital relationships. How will the present, unstable married relationship affect tree planting in the homestead? What impact will social reforms in dowries and divorces by the husband have on the planting of trees? Why are women considered temporary members of the family, leading to a denial of their right to their father's land? These were questions raised by the study they could not find answers to.

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