An Adaptive and Evidence-Based Approach to Building and Retaining Gender Diversity within a University Forestry Education Program: A Case Study of SWIFT

Abstract

Retaining women in forestry and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields is a challenge. University education represents a critical point along the forestry pipeline in which women might leave the profession. Concerned with the low number of women graduating with bachelor’s degrees in forestry from the University of Maine’s School of Forest Resources, a group of faculty and students formed Supporting Women in Forestry Today (SWIFT) in 2016. An organization guided by literature on improving gender diversity in the workplace, SWIFT has taken an adaptive and evidence-based approach while hosting events throughout each academic year. Surveys indicate that SWIFT has been effective at helping participants increase awareness of gender-related issues, gain strategies, and develop connections. Although challenges still exist for women in forestry, this case study suggests that SWIFT is an effective model that could be used elsewhere to support the retention of women in the forestry profession.

Fixing the Leaky Pipeline: Strategies for Making Economics Work for Women at Every Stage

“…At the University of Michigan, a faculty committee that focused on increasing the hiring of women met with departments and search committees; an analysis limited to a comparison of pre-and post-intervention outcomes found that hires of women in science and engineering more than doubled (Stewart, La Vaque-Manty, and Malley 2004). 6 Soll, Milkman, and Payne (2015) discuss more strategies for reducing bias in evaluations.…”

Addressing Gender Inequities in Forest Science and Research

“…Forest work was seen as hard and dangerous, but as technologies developed, loggers of the 1980s were seen more as competent operators who were mastering machines rather than nature [15,16]. Forest work has evolved further in more recent decades, but these stereotypes of tough and powerful men have perpetuated [11,15,17]. Such narratives can be particularly influential for university students or graduates entering the sector [3,[16][17][18][19][20], potentially reducing the numbers of women entering the workforce.…”

“…Forest work has evolved further in more recent decades, but these stereotypes of tough and powerful men have perpetuated [11,15,17]. Such narratives can be particularly influential for university students or graduates entering the sector [3,[16][17][18][19][20], potentially reducing the numbers of women entering the workforce. Despite these ongoing perceptions, concerns around women in the forest sector are largely absent or inadequately addressed in forestry research journals [11].…”

“…When gender has been included in forestry research, studies have been restricted to genderawareness rather than being truly gender transformative work [11]. We need more studies that expose and address the underlying social dynamics that create sex-based differences in workplace participation [8,17,18,21] and exclusion of women from decision-making [13].…”

The “Catch-22” of Representation of Women in the Forest Sector: The Perspective of Student Leaders in Top Global Forestry Universities

“…Attracting more women should be balanced with retaining women who have been in the sector. Based on a recent study about the importance of women's networks on supporting women's retention in the forestry profession [46], future research can be directed at developing a comprehensive understanding of what is needed to retain women in the forest sector. There is also a need to do research addressing complex gender issues in the forest sector such as sexual harassment and the gender pay gap.…”