Passing and non-passing among women in the Swedish forestry sector

Sammanfattning

The labour market in Sweden is highly gender segregated. One of the sectors where this is visible is within the forestry sector, whereas of 2020, only 11 percent of the working force were female. Research has shown that in male dominated sectors, male domination is upheld through organizational structures, norms, processes, and relations. In these sectors, women are controlled and subordinated by various means. In the Swedish forestry industry, women established a non-male network after their Me Too hashtag #slutavverkat as a way to keep the focus on the question of gendered structures. This study examines how women experience working in the Swedish forestry sector and how a network for non-males influences this experience. A phenomenological approach inspired the study. The data consists of 10 interviews with women, working or who have recently worked, in the forestry industry and all members of the non-male network. The theoretical framework consists of Acker (2012) and Ahmed (2006), which unfold a deeper sociological understanding of gendered structures and belonging, passing and non-passing in organizational spaces. The results show that women experience belonging due to the shared interest in the forestry sector but need to relate to the male dominance of the sector in different ways. Moreover, women experience problems to pass without being stopped or questioned and need to manage situations individually due to the male dominating processes in the sector. By participating in a non-male network women can negotiate the female body and reframe their experiences, making them feel more accepted in the sector and less alone.