Performing female masculinities and negotiating femininities: challenging gender hegemonies in Swedish forestry through women’s networks

Abstract

This paper addresses the discursive and spatial constructions of female masculinities and femininities in separate networks for women forest owners in Sweden. Based on qualitative research conducted with members of six such networks, I explored the spatial negotiations and performances of femininities and female masculinities in relation to hegemonic forestry masculinities. I found that the separate spaces provided by the networks enabled the women to find strategies by which to navigate the spatial relations permeated by hegemonic forestry masculinity, which empowered them to resist the subordinate position of hegemonic femininity and to 'claim space'. The women claimed this space by asserting alternative femininities and performing embodied female masculinities conceptualized as 'the tough forest owner' and the 'entrepreneurial forest owner' to gain access to both symbolic and material spaces, including the category of 'the forest owner'. The performances of female masculinities were largely conducted from other positions of privilege, such as class and heterosexuality, which included performances of hegemonic femininity. Therefore, these performances of female masculinities generated status rather than stigmatisation. Furthermore, the analysis showed how these masculinities and femininities were negotiated and performed in relation to forestry spatiality as well as rurality and urbanity. I argue that the spatial performances of alternative femininities and female masculinities challenge hegemonic masculinities in a way that disrupts the male exclusivity of the category of 'the forest owner', although the performances of female masculinities also reinforce the superior position of masculinities in relation to femininities.

What is the ‘problem’ of gender inequality represented to be in the Swedish forest sector?

“…However, female representation in the private sector is at a standstill, where the shares of women in both manual forestry work (16% → 15%) and forest contracting (5% → 4%) have decreased slightly. In forest ownership, although the share of female owners has increased (38% → 39%) mostly due to the end of traditional patrilineal forest land inheritance (Lidestav, 2010;Laszlo Ambjörnsson, 2021), women own on average less surface area, as the number of women owning more than 50 ha has decreased (35% → 28%). The focus on statistics highlights the technical approaches of the gender strategies proposed by the forest policies.…”

Addressing Gender Inequities in Forest Science and Research

“…When gender has been included in forestry research, studies have been restricted to genderawareness rather than being truly gender transformative work [11]. We need more studies that expose and address the underlying social dynamics that create sex-based differences in workplace participation [8,17,18,21] and exclusion of women from decision-making [13].…”

“…There are a range of programmes working to support and enhance gender equality in forestry within different parts of the sector. Several studies based in education environments have identified the establishment of women's networks as an effective strategy for fostering a sense of belonging and creating a more accepting environment [3,17,21]. The Swedish programme Supporting Women in Forestry Today (SWIFT) has raised awareness of gender issues, helped students gain skills and strategies and develop connections to encourage retention of women in forestry [17].…”

“…The Swedish programme Supporting Women in Forestry Today (SWIFT) has raised awareness of gender issues, helped students gain skills and strategies and develop connections to encourage retention of women in forestry [17]. Networks for women in forests that extend beyond universities are also effective in allowing women to claim space as individuals and a collective [21] and are important for empowering agency and resistance [18]. For instance, Canada's Women in Wood collective (https://www.womeninwood.ca/about, accessed on 23 December 2021) brings together women who work with and for forests.…”

Friends against capitalism: Constructive resistance and friendship compliance in worker cooperatives

“…Friendship as resistance has been investigated in specific contexts, including Swedish work settings. For example, women’s friendships can provide sites for re-constructing femininities (Green, 1998), co-workers’ friendships can resist neoliberalism in Swedish academic work (Webster and Boyd, 2019) and separatist women’s networks within Swedish forestry can strengthen resistance to hegemonic femininities (Laszlo Ambjörnsson, 2020).…”