All talk and no action? Making change and negotiating gender equality in Swedish forestry

Abstract

This study analyses how women professionals make sense of change with regard to gender (in)equality in the Swedish forestry sector. While most participants described an increased focus on gender equality in the sector, perceptions of change varied. Descriptions emphasising progress observe change in the sense that an increased focus on gender equality has meant that explicit sexism is no longer tolerated. Descriptions emphasising stability, however, consider that this focus has not allowed for a transformation of the sectors embedded in masculine structures and cultures. The study thus points to a discrepancy between what organisations ‘do’ and what they ‘say they do’, which sheds light on the various forms of power, conflict and resistance involved in the constitutions of gender equality. To truly promote gender equality in the Swedish forestry sector, researchers and policy-makers must continue to make visible, address and challenge the complex practices and processes involved in organisational transformation.