Course:
Forestry
Group of courses: Agricultural, Forestry and Nutritional Studies
The content of forestry degrees unites a broad range of individual disciplines from the natural and technical sciences and the economics and social science sector. Forestry degrees are structured into the areas of Ecology, Production & Use and Society & Economy. Degrees have a practical and application-based focus.
The changed and increased demands made by society on forests and their use, protection and relaxation in forest areas have resulted in the technocratic forest management perspective in research and teaching increasingly being replaced by the perspective of sustainable ecosystem management and its social, political and legal parameters.
The aim of integrating gender aspects into forestry degrees should be to teach students the basic theories and methods of gender studies and to familiarise them with empirical findings from this area. Students should be able to recognise the importance of the category of gender in the individual subject areas (Ecology, Production & Use, Society & Economy) of their degrees, and to question content on this basis. Graduates in the "green sector" should be capable of viewing the human use and protection of the forest ecosystem in an economical, social and socioeconomical manner from a gender-sensitive perspective. They should also be able to recognise and analyse problems and develop possible solutions.
The subject-specific targets for women's and gender studies should be:
The central objective of integrating gender studies into degree courses should be to illustrate the significance of the category of gender in relation to the demands placed on the forest ecosystem (sustainable use, protective functions and relaxation).
Alongside ecological aspects, the degree also deals with the basic socioeconomic aspects of the use and protection of forest ecosystems, and thus implicitly with issues of women's and gender studies. This involves the following questions:
Gender aspects are relevant to the following three subject areas within the degree course:
The empirical studies are related to forest and rural space as a resource and place to live, which has been experienced and used differently by women and men over the course of the centuries. The following subjects could be addressed in this area:
A further focal point of subject-specific content would be academic and professional practice in the "green sector":
Essentially, gender aspects can be taken into account in all courses in forestry degrees. However, most lecturers are unlikely to be able to assess or recognise the significance of the category of gender. We therefore do not assume that gender aspects will be integrated into a relevant number of degree courses in the near future.
As an interim solution, we recommend introducing gender modules/seminars on women's and gender studies and initiating relevant final theses and work placements. Collaboration with economics, history and social science departments/working groups may be useful for formal assignments.
Potential modules/seminars:
Existing and previous courses on the subject of women's and gender studies include:
In addition, more work placements outside the classic forestry sector should be initiated to enable students to gain their own experiences of gender-specific differences between the organisational cultures of forestry and non-forestry institutions. In this context, students can experience and address common and differing national and cultural factors regarding gender relations in various regions of the world.
In Freiburg, the existing cooperation between the Institute of Forest Utilization and Work Science (Prof. Dr. S. Lewark) and the Centre for Anthropology and Gender Studies at the University of Freiburg (ZAG) should be stepped up. The inter- and cross-disciplinary degree in Gender Studies taught there offers numerous opportunities for collaboration.
We must point out that students are increasingly writing papers, Diplom and Master's theses on diverse aspects of women's and gender studies whereby the subject matter is mainly chosen on a fairly random basis.
The above content should be offered as obligatory courses at the basic degree level (BSc). At the Master's level, a choice of further modules and seminars could be offered. We recommend that Master's degrees offer in-depth modules building on the basic content