Gender Perspectives on Forest Services in the Rise of a Bioeconomy Discourse

Abstract

Building on the claim that gender matters, this chapter problematizes the possibilities and constraints that the rising bioeconomy discourse offers regarding the gendered practices of forestry. While (pre)industrial forestry centred around a goods-dominant logic ("the pile of timber"), contemporary forestry is in some ways incorporating a more service-dominant logic ("the pile of timber plus something else"). The gendered practice of forestry, however, still draws on notions of masculinity rooted in the physically demanding manual harvesting work, in tandem with technical know-how and the overall industry is struggling with gender equality issues. The emergence of the bioeconomy as a new meta-discourse in forestry, where the industry is aiming to articulate itself as sustainable, modern and competitive, may challange the almost all male structures of forestry so that the future of forestry is more diverse. We conclude that the bioeconomy is unlikely to solely challenge the gendered practices of forestry because of its inherent neoliberal gender blindness, but with awareness of gender and power, this new discourse may at least offer an opening for problematizing taken-for-granted practices and values which in turn have the potential to shape the forestry of tomorrow in a more inclusive and diverse way.