Difference, Power, and Discrimination Program

The discipline of forestry studies has a distinct history of sexism, in which toxic masculinity has led to a number of negative outcomes.  Legal actions regarding discrimination and racism, poor public perceptions, and poor environmental documentation all result from the gendering of forestry as a masculine profession.  Several organizational attempts to confront the issues by increasing the number of women in the field have proven to be largely ineffective.  Coutinho-Sledge endorses the notion of community-based forestry, arguing that professionals in forestry need to include feminine coded ideals and strategies as normative values, and as agents of pragmatic solutions.