Bridging the gender gap in forest stewardship: Facilitating programs for women landowners

Abstract

Nationwide, women woodland owners are increasingly taking on the primary decision-making role for theirland. In Wisconsin and beyond, most existing landowner outreach efforts target mixed-gender audiences. Weexplored how facilitation techniques can be incorporated into a women-centric workshop to increase womenlandowners' confidence, knowledge, and readiness to take action in forest stewardship. We highlight three coretechniques Extension workshop developers can use to promote landowner learning and engagement: creatingspace for participant-driven open dialogue, generating opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, and enablingparticipants to receive personalized advice from professionals about their land.