Masculinities in Forests

While forestry is widely considered a masculine domain, a significant portion of the literature on gender and development focuses on the role of women, not men. If we believe, as I do, that climate change will not be successfully addressed without collaborative community involvement, it behooves us to understand the communities and their ideas about links between the changing environment and people’s own gendered identities. This includes exploring how masculinities affect forest management.

The book “Masculinities in Forests: Representations of Diversity” examines the differences by time and place in people’s expectations about manhood. The places examined are forests, in the US and in Indonesia (both based on ethnographic research); and among forestry professionals internationally, based on some four decades of personal experience. The links between the ideals, behavior, and goals communities have about manhood are examined from the perspective of forest management. The book addresses a gap in much of the natural resource and climate change-related gender work by focusing on men and their ideas and behavior related to their own gender and the environment.

Are others exploring the impacts of masculinity in forests and other contexts? I am interested to connect with others working on or interested in this topic.