Forestry professionalism overrides gender: A case study of nature perception in Germany

Are women in the public forest services potential agents for change, as some authors have suggested? In this article, I hypothesise that professionalism conditions nature perception and overrides gender effects among foresters. Professionalism here includes expertise and exercise of control. Cultural Theory, especially the four ‘nature myths’ that have been adapted to it, ground the study theoretically, and data from two surveys ground the study empirically (survey of the German population (Kuckartz et al. 2006) and my own survey of German state foresters (2008)). The empirical findings support the hypothesis. Differences between foresters and the general public are bigger than between female and male foresters. Foresters, whether male or female, perceive nature as less ephemeral and less capricious than does the general public. Besides, they have a distinct cultural bias towards nature as tolerant but vulnerable to surpassing ultimate limits. Female foresters therefore do not change the profession's nature perception, at least not because of their gender. Questions that remain are: why does the percentage of women in forestry nevertheless remain low and how could change happen then?

Research Highlights► I compare surveys of foresters and the general public on nature perception. ► There are only little differences between men and women. ► But there are significant differences between foresters and the general public. ► Foresters perceive nature as less ephemeral and less capricious.