The study investigated gender participation and accessibility to natural resources in buffer-zone communities surrounding Old Oyo National Park, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 160 households from ten villages located within 0–5 km of the park boundary. Data were obtained using structured questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression model. Results showed that respondents were predominantly within the productive age bracket, with 29.4% aged 21–29 years and 23.1% aged 30–39 years. Women constituted 52.5% of the sampled population and played significant roles in fruit gathering (63.7%), NTFP collection (51.9%), community development (66.3%), and environmental protection (30%). Men, however, dominated lumbering (100%), hunting (92.5%), and livestock grazing (55.9%). Accessibility to forest resources varied, with high mean access observed for porcupine (1.83), squirrel (1.59), grasscutter (1.54), and fuelwood (1.32), while honey (0.25), shrimps (0.37), and crabs (0.50) showed very low accessibility. Logistic regression revealed that gender was the only significant determinant of high access (β = 1.557; p < 0.001), indicating that women were about five times more likely to report high access to resources than men. Other predictors such as age, education, distance, income, and years of residence were statistically insignificant (p > 0.05). The study highlighted the gendered nature of resource use and underscored the need for gender-responsive conservation strategies.