Women in Forestry: Dilemmas of a Separate Women's Organization

Abstract

This paper discusses women's organization within forestry in Norway. As a separate women's organization, Women in Forestry (JiS), which aims to increase women's influence, faces several dilemmas and challenges. One of the main dilemmas is that by founding a women's organization, gender is made visible and put into focus, while its ultimate aim is to make gender irrelevant and the organization redundant in the future. Based on interviews with founders and representatives of JiS, and with women active in forestry, written documents and the magazine The Forest Owner, the study analyses the strategies that the organization pursues to deal with this dilemma. Strategies that reduce their particularity and increase their universality include avoiding a feminist label, seeking alliances with men and having a diverse group of members.