Presentation short abstract

This study examines how the growing demand for edible bird’s nests in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, reshapes gender roles, labour relations, and household livelihoods, highlighting the changing contributions of men and women in the trade as it intensifies and expands in response to market forces.

Presentation long abstract

Among high-value non-timber forest products, the harvest of edible bird’s nests (EBNs) from cave and purpose-built swiftlet dwellings has opened new income opportunities for rural smallholders in Indonesia. While studies have explored the impact of EBN value chains on livelihoods and environments, few have investigated the changing roles and responsibilities of men and women in meeting the rising demand for EBNs and the effects on local gender relations and rural livelihoods. Drawing on 10 months of ethnographic research in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, I investigate how EBN production became central to household livelihoods and how differently positioned women and men respond to the intensification of the trade across rural and urban spaces. The labour relations, roles, and responsibilities of both men and women have changed as households strive to maintain livelihood security through the trade and other diversification strategies as opportunities and challenges arise from global EBN market expansion. Drawing on feminist political ecology, results reveal the shifting gender roles and labour relations within the EBN trade and agrarian transformations of the region. I explore the visible 'men’s work' involved in accessing and managing EBN in wild caves and purpose-built 'farmhouses,' while highlighting the crucial yet often overlooked role of women managing household economies, sustaining land-based livelihoods, and cleaning nests. The contributions of both men and women to the EBN trade play a vital role in securing a stable income, offering hope for families who can no longer rely on forest and land-based economies in a fast-changing frontier region.