Department of Biology, Faculty of Applied Science, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia; Biological Sciences Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Biological Sciences Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Princess Doctor Najla Bint Saudi AlSaud Distinguished Research Center for Biotechnology, Saudi Arabia.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2020 Jul 15;257:112899. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2020.112899. Epub 2020 Apr 23.
Very few studies examining quantitatively gender differences in the knowledge and use of medicinal plants exist for the Arab world. Differences in ethnobotanical knowledge of medicinal plants between men and women in Jeddah are explored here for the first time.
Our study aims to document urban medicinal plant knowledge in Jeddah, and to answer the following questions: (1) What medicinal plants are used by Saudis in Jeddah? (2) To what extent do men and women use medicinal plants? (3) Are plants used by men significantly different to those used by women? And, (4) do men and women learn about medicinal plants in different ways? Given the gendered nature of space and relations in the Arab world, we hypothesise that men and women learn about plants in different ways and that this will contribute to explain any possible differences.
Ethnobotanical fieldwork took place in Jeddah from August 2018 to September 2019. Individual free-listing, semi-structured interviews and an online survey questionnaire were carried out to document local medicinal plant. In total, 50 men and 50 women were interviewed face-to-face and 344 people responded to the questionnaire, of which 154 were men and 190 were women.
A total of 94 medicinal plant vernacular names were documented representing 85 different plant species belonging to 37 families. Men cited 63 plants (33 plant families) and women 83 (36 plant families). Sixty-one plants were cited by both men and women, two only by men and 22 only by women. Men and women learn in similar ways, but generally use medicinal plants to treat different ailments. Women rely on medicinal plant use to a larger extent.
Medicinal plant use is dependent on gendered social roles and experience, as well as preference for biomedicine or medicinal plant use. Men and women use similar plants, but women have greater knowledge that increases with age. Given the food-medicine continuum, women's double role of family food and care providers may explain their expertise in medicinal plant use.
在阿拉伯世界，很少有研究从定量角度考察性别差异对药用植物知识和使用的影响。本研究首次探讨了吉达男性和女性在药用植物民族植物学知识方面的差异。
本研究旨在记录吉达的城市药用植物知识，并回答以下问题：（1）沙特人在吉达使用哪些药用植物？（2）男性和女性在多大程度上使用药用植物？（3）男性使用的植物与女性使用的植物有显著差异吗？（4）男性和女性是否以不同的方式学习药用植物？鉴于阿拉伯世界空间和关系的性别性质，我们假设男性和女性以不同的方式学习植物，这将有助于解释任何可能的差异。
2018 年 8 月至 2019 年 9 月在吉达进行了民族植物学实地考察。通过个人自由列表、半结构化访谈和在线问卷调查，记录了当地的药用植物。共有 50 名男性和 50 名女性接受了面对面访谈，344 人回答了问卷，其中 154 人是男性，190 人是女性。
共记录了 94 种药用植物的俗称，代表 85 种不同的植物物种，属于 37 个科。男性列举了 63 种植物（33 个植物科），女性列举了 83 种（36 个植物科）。男性和女性共同列举了 61 种植物，只有男性列举了 2 种，只有女性列举了 22 种。男性和女性以相似的方式学习，但通常使用药用植物治疗不同的疾病。女性更依赖药用植物的使用。
药用植物的使用取决于性别化的社会角色和经验，以及对生物医学或药用植物使用的偏好。男性和女性使用相似的植物，但女性的知识随着年龄的增长而增加。鉴于食物-药物连续体，女性作为家庭食物和护理提供者的双重角色可能解释了她们在药用植物使用方面的专业知识。
