THE ROLE OF GENDER
INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS PROGRAMME
Gender as a category is understood within the broad context of the family. Indigenous Knowledge has immediate relevance to the family unit, from which it emanates, and which it sustains and nurtures. Indigenous Knowledge Systems include knowledge that is passed on from one generation to the next, and here both women and men play important roles. They are the repositories of centuries of collective wisdom and knowledge, for example, the medicinal knowledge of traditional doctors.
It may be asserted that the most precious resource of our people is the extended family structure. Included in its benefits are the following:
- The accumulated knowledge that is central to this structure provides an invaluable resource with regard to the health of the individuals that make up the extended family. This health has both a physical and a psychological dimension.
- Children are enabled through the extended family structure to develop a consciousness of the community.
It is the intention of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Programme to attempt to identify those elements of our collective knowledge and heritage that will nurture and sustain the family unit as the foundation of future generations.
Women's deep concern for maintaining diversity in their surrounding environment, and their general concern for the quality and sustainability of natural systems is an intimate part of women's life.
This concern is rooted in their daily reality, their experience as individuals responsible for a wide range of activities closely related to the survival of their communities (e.g., food production, processing, preparation and preservation) and their concern for future generations.
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Last Updated on August 31, 1998 by
Henri Fortuin from the CSIR