Women's Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation summary

    Vandana Shiva's article discusses how women's knowledge and skill is essential to the preservation of biodiversity. Women bring a different outlook on things than men do, which helps in problem solving and helps contribute to diversity. Men will typically specialize in one area or trade, whereas women typically work in many fields and trades. They will be inside cleaning house and in the same day out planting seeds for crops. Women's work and knowledge in agriculture is found "in between" sectors, they will normally have knowledge and will work many different sectors without specializing in any particular one. In India women conserve seed, and conserve diversity, they also perform tests for seed selection and propagation. However multinational corporations are transforming women and farmers from seed "custodians" to seed "consumers" by creating hybrid seeds which are biologically patented thus preventing farmers from using the offspring for seeding the next year. Farmers must go back and buy seeds every year now, and if they try produce there own seed it is considered patent infringement. This creation of corporation owned seed has taken the power and capabilities to maintain biodiversity and steady income from women.