Multiple masculinities shed new light on forest management

2012

2017

The deepening crisis of global climate change has increased public awareness of environmental issues and provoked starkly different political responses. We see denial, panic, indifference, mobilization, and oddest of all, attempts to create markets to solve problems created by markets. On this smoke-obscured battlefield, one thing seems clear. Effective action will need social-science understanding of how environmental change happens and how to deal with it. We do not live in an Anthropocene so much as a Sociocene. Corporations, states, and structures of power and inequality, rather than individual humans, are generating the large-scale environmental effects. One of the most powerful social structures is the gender order-the social arrangements that construct masculinities and femininities, and produce gendered divisions of labor, wealth, and power. Feminists in the 1970s saw that environmental issues were connected with gender. The most influential arguments pictured men as naturally dominant, aggressive, and threatening; women as naturally peaceable, nurturing, and environmentally friendly. This, however, contradicted the women's-liberation argument that gender is socially constructed, and we should remember that alternative view. It is true that many men and influential forms of masculinity are involved in environmental destruction. But not because XY chromosomes mechanically generate bad behavior. Our understanding of men and masculinities has come a long way in the last 30 years, and we now have a worldwide base of knowledge. It is definitely time to bring this to bear on the understanding of environmental issues and so this special issue of Perspectives is very welcome. 6 RCC Perspectives: Transformations Research has shown the multiplicity of masculinities and their internal complexityand sometimes, their internal contradictions. The studies in this Perspectives issue add to this rich documentation, showing the making and negotiating of masculinities in very different cultural and economic settings, from Central America to central Africa, to the USA and Japan. Research has mapped relations between different forms of masculinity: hegemony, marginalization, violence, and fearful avoidance. We understand better that destructive actions-including environmental crime-are not mechanically "caused" by masculinity but are purposive means of achieving valued masculinity. Achieving masculine status makes sense only in a social context. The top managers of the corporations pouring out greenhouse gases and poisoning river systems are not necessarily doing so from inner evil. Perhaps these men love babies and puppies and would sing in a church choir if only they could find the time. But they are working in an insane elite world that institutionalizes competitive, power-oriented masculinity, and they are doing whatever it takes. Understanding masculinities also helps our thinking about environmental movements. In my initial research on men's life histories in Gender and Society, I included environmental activists on the assumption some were trying to change conventional masculinity-and that turned out to be true. Environmental movements are sites of encounter; the Camps for Climate Action, for instance, have incorporated feminist practices. But environmental movements may also reproduce gender hierarchies. As studies in this collection show, this process happens at the level of everyday practice as well as in publicly visible leadership. Research on masculinities is surprisingly helpful, too, in understanding responses to the environmental movement and its interventions. As this issue concerns the class character of environmental politics, it is of strategic importance. The studies in this special issue about occupational masculinities and the divided interests of working men (see Loomis, for example) are very illuminating. Contemporary authoritarian populism, drawing on environmental denialism, tries hard to mobilize these forces and has had some success. 7 Men and Nature Yet men have a great deal to contribute to environmental movements, to stabilizing the Sociocene and finding sustainable futures. The research also points to their resources and the diversity of their masculinities. There are hidden histories that need to be told. They include-to blow a local trumpet-the pioneering "Green Bans" imposed by Australian unions in defence of urban environment. There are more possibilities for change than might appear on the surface. Knowledge about masculinities has been put to good use by antiviolence activism,

International Forestry Review, 2011

This review charts out recent developments in gender research in forestry research, with a focus on tropical and dry forests in developing countries. We reviewed 121 publications extracted from the Web of Knowledge database and publications by the Center for International Forestry Research for the past 10 years. Over the past decade (2000-2011) gender-focused forestry research has been dominated by studies that evaluate men's and women's participation in community forestry initiatives and the commercialisation of forest products and market access. Community forestry studies were mainly conducted in South Asia and market access studies in Africa. The geographical spread of studies is uneven, with most studies in India and Nepal. We suggest that the observed patterns relate to recent devolution reforms of forest management, which have a longer tradition in South Asia. The patterns also relate to the focus on poverty reduction efforts that gained widespread prominence in the 1990s. Integrating gender into forestry research is constrained by the broad perception that forestry is a male-dominated profession, a lack of clarity among researchers of the concept of gender, and a lack of technical skills, interest and/or awareness of gender. Key knowledge gaps are identified.

2012

Cover photo by Amy Duchelle/CIFOR Bolivian family collecting Brazil nuts from the forest CIFOR Jl. CIFOR,

This enlightening book brings together the work of gender and forestry specialists from various backgrounds and fields of research and action to analyze global gender conditions as related to forests. Using a variety of methods and approaches, the authors build on a spectrum of theoretical perspectives to bring depth and breadth to the relevant issues and address timely and under-studied themes. Focusing particularly on tropical forests, the book presents both local case studies and global comparative studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America, as well as the US and Europe. The studies range from personal histories of elderly American women's attitudes toward conservation, to a combined qualitative/quantitative international comparative study on REDD+, to a longitudinal examination of oil palm and gender roles over time in Kalimantan. Issues are examined across scales, from the household to the nation state and the global arena, and reach back to the past to inform present and future considerations. The collection will be of relevance to academics, researchers, policy makers and advocates with different levels of familiarity with gender issues in the field of forestry.

Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International Reviews, 2019

This review article supports researchers and practitioners to strengthen attention to variously positioned men and masculine identities in order to increase the rigour of empirical research and to enhance outcomes of work addressing environmental issues. Masculinities interact with other factors to shape patterns of environmental management and to influence responses to environmental challenges; at the same time, human-environment dynamics produce differing expressions and experiences of masculinity. Yet, environmental initiatives implemented in many contexts and scales have been hindered by lack of attention to gendered conditions, identities and expectations associated with diversely positioned men. Theoretically, studies gathered here strive to overcome these limitations by applying concepts of plural masculinities, intersectionality and hegemonic masculinity. Methodologically, this body of work challenges universalizing stereotypes about men by situating empirical studies in specific sociocultural, ethnoracial, ecological and geographical contexts around the world. The 160 publications reviewed here illuminate three realms: productive enterprises including logging, mining, petroleum exploitation, ranching and agroindustry; lifeways and attitudes involving care for health, families and nature; and environmental crises, from disasters to refugees and climate change. Evidence in each realm suggests that some masculine-identified behaviours, attitudes and resources are intertwined with environmentally destructive processes, while others support, or can support, moves toward dynamics that are healthier for humans and non-human nature. After considering skills, tools and frameworks for further research and practice, the review ends with a look at challenges of developing more systemic approaches to gender and environment. Review Methodology: Recent publications were sought through University of Florida library databases and Google Scholar, seeking key terms masculinity/masculinities together with agriculture, agroforestry, conservation, ecological impact, climate change and health. Literature reviewed reflects Paulson's 30 years of research, teaching and practice in agricultural and agroforestry contexts in Latin America. Boose contributes perspectives from graduate research on labour experiences of motorcycle taxi drivers in Iquitos, Perú and from family farming history in Illinois. The scope of this article does not allow coverage of all topics relevant for the masculinities-environment nexus; areas including urban planning, waste management, transportation, information technology, water resources, fishing and coastal management, hunting, education, violence, racialization, migration, heteronormativity and non-binary gender are saved for complementary instalments.

2006

 Forest services as a man domain: evaluation of corporate culture and the possibilities for gender sensitive reforms.

Men and Masculinities, 2019

instance, maintains that hegemonic masculinities have been replaced by egalitarian, "inclusive masculinities" in Global North societies. Messerschmidt convincingly argues, however, that the assumptions bound up in this claim are at odds with decades of research on masculinities and that the theory does not adequately attend to the flexibility of gender hegemony. The pursuit of gender equality is not impossible, however. In closing, Messerschmidt offers several empirical examples of counterhegemonic practices-positive masculinities and femininities in particular-suggesting avenues for social change.

Forests, Trees and Livelihoods, 2012

This document is designed to aid foresters and other natural resource managers desiring to more effectively integrate gender in (primarily tropical) forest management. It identifies 11 issues that have been highlighted in the literature on gender. Sample issues, though potentially relevant at all scales -macro, meso, and micro -are examined, each at a particular scale, as shown in the 'Gender Box'. The purpose is to highlight both the importance of and the interactions among scales, as we consider the lives of individual women and men in forests. Frequent reference is made to the literature, both as a guide for users and as a mechanism to show clearly what gender researchers have found relevant pertaining to the sample issues. Brief suggestions for ways forward are provided in closing.