Explaining gender differences in private forest risk management

Abstract

In many countries, lower levels of forest management activities have been observed among female forest owners compared to male owners. The present study examined potential explanations for gender differences in private forest risk management among forest owners in Sweden (n = 1482) using a questionnaire. Results from this study confirmed a slightly lower level of forest risk management among female owners in proactively combating damage caused by climate change and animal browsing when compared to their male counterparts. Further gender differences were revealed on a structural level. For example, female owners displayed higher levels of education and were more often non-resident owners and urban owners, as compared to their male counterparts. In addition, female and male owners differed regarding social-psychological variables (e.g. forest values and threat and coping appraisals). However the greatest gender difference was found in involvement in forest planning and forestry work. Even though gender differences were evident on multiple levels, involvement in forest issues and forest planning were found to be most important for explaining gender differences in forest risk management. By disentangling predictors of gender differences in private forest risk management, this study may contribute to a more strategic gender approach to forest risk governance. ARTICLE HISTORY

Determinants of Nonindustrial Private Forest Owners’ Willingness to Harvest Timber in Norway

“…We found that gender was a significant factor influencing timber harvesting across all models. In European and many other countries, significant gender differences are observed among private forest owners [73,75,76]. Female forest owners place more emphasis on conservation values than their male counterparts, and hence are less inclined towards harvesting [45].…”

“…Female forest owners place more emphasis on conservation values than their male counterparts, and hence are less inclined towards harvesting [45]. Compared to male owners, female forest owners have been found to be older across Europe with less competence in forestry [76] and low engagement in practical forestry [75].…”

The Knowledge and Value Basis of Private Forest Management in Sweden: Actual Knowledge, Confidence, and Value Priorities

“…Results have revealed that structural characteristics relating to the owner and the forest (e.g., gender, age, forest type, size of forest, and distance from roads) are associated with management activities (e.g., Joshi and Arano 2009 ; Lidestav and Berg Lejon 2013 ; Silver et al 2015 ; Coté et al 2016 ; Aguilar et al 2017 ; Thompson et al 2017 ; Floress et al 2019 ). In addition, social and psychological factors, such as social networks, personal experience, forest values and management objectives, subjective knowledge or awareness, and beliefs and attitudes have been found to be important for engagement in particular activities (Karppinen 2005 ; Joshi and Arano 2009 ; Blennow et al 2012 ; Hendee and Flint 2013 ; Thompson and Hansen 2013 ; Põllumäe et al 2014 ; Sagor and Becker 2014 ; Drescher et al 2017 ; Kelly et al 2017 ; Eriksson 2017 , 2018b ; Vulturius et al 2018 ; Fischer 2019 ; Thorn et al 2019 ). Even though knowledge has been found to play a role in forest management activities (e.g., Floress et al 2019 ), and lack of knowledge is considered a significant barrier to achieving, in particular, new management aims such as climate change adaptation (Bissonnette et al 2017 ; Sousa-Silva et al 2018 ), the complexities associated with conceptualizing and measuring knowledge have largely been ignored.…”

“…Evidence supports the importance of value priorities for management decisions. For example, forest owners emphasizing the interests of others and placing less emphasis on more traditional values tend to be more likely to participate in conservation programs (Drescher et al 2017 ), and stronger production forest values, but also stronger ecological forest values, have been found to be associated with climate change adaptation (Eriksson 2018b ). In addition, forest values have been incorporated into owner objectives, and the implementation of silvicultural measures, including thinning and harvesting, has been found to be higher among owners emphasizing timber and forest income than among other owners (Põllumäe et al 2014 ; Joshi and Arano 2009 ).…”

Relations between structural characteristics, forest involvement, and forest knowledge among private forest owners in Sweden

“…Notably, though differences were substantially more pronounced for subjective than for objective knowledge, and there was no difference in objective knowledge after having considered the level of involvement in forestry. Thus confirming the importance of involvement to understand differences between female and male owners (Eriksson 2018). Whereas the consideration of additional involvement variables may further reduce the gender difference in subjective knowledge, even with similar levels of involvement, the gendered forestry sector dominated by men and traditional perceptions of masculinity may contribute to female owners questioning their own competence (Häggqvist et al 2014;Andersson and Lidestav 2016).…”