Abstract

Long-term solutions to environmental problems will not succeed without representative, collaborative, and inclusive approaches. Supporting women in conservation science and practice requires policymakers and organizations to consider a range of actions from those that mitigate biases to those that actively promote equality. Selecting a suitable course of action involves assessing information on both the hurdles and the potential for improvement. Here, we provide a perspective into challenges and opportunities gleaned from four workshops with women from 16 countries. These workshops and a final encounter, involving 163 women, culminated in bottom-up development of a regionally-constructed, gender-conscious conceptual model for change. The model encompasses the multiple domains in which nature conservation is implemented: resource management and local actor agency, knowledge co-production and management, and planning and policymaking. It also considers major challenges that disproportionately impact women: 1) Social, institutional, and cultural context; 2) Training and capacity building; 3) Production, reproduction, and dependent care; 4) Violence, safety, and recognition. We have a challenging task ahead, and the future of our field rests on our ability to provide more diverse, inclusive, and equitable spaces. Our workshops series fostered community and empowerment for women conservation scientists and practitioners in Latin America. We experienced how this empowerment and energy decisively translated into a practical conceptual model, a broad-based, growing network of over 1000 women, and an endorsed living Agenda of Women in Conservation for Latin America and the Caribbean (RedMeC) that supports women caring for nature worldwide.