Genus och skogsägande - kunskap för vägar mot ett jämställt skogsägarskap: en forskningsöversikt

The Swedish Forest sector is characterised by gender inequality, with men dominating both ownership and management of forests. Women make up about 39% of forest owners but own smaller areas and face structural barriers linked to strong gender norms. This limits women’s opportunities to develop their forest ownership, make decisions, and access resources on equal terms. A masculine culture, along with gendered conditions, expectations, and relationships, shapes different aspects of forest ownership and contributes to unequal space being given to groups, perspectives, and values. Despite long-standing awareness and various gender equality initiatives, progress remains limited. The purpose of this review is to map and analyse the current state of knowledge on gender, equality, and forest ownership, to make existing knowledge visible and identify areas of development that are important for future research and for more gender-equal forest ownership. The focus of the review is on private forest ownership in a northern context. The systematic review shows that knowledge production on gender and forest ownership has grown significantly over the past 25 years, with a particularly sharp increase in the last decade. The United States and Sweden emerge as the most studied contexts, while most other countries are represented only by a few studies. Publications appear mainly in forestry journals, and only one article was found in a gender studies journal, illustrating that the field remains strongly rooted within forestry disciplines. Methodologically, survey studies dominate, while qualitative approaches and mixed methods are less common. Theoretical frameworks are used relatively sparsely, although some studies draw on gender theory. This means that the gender perspective in many studies is limited, both in scope and depth, with gender often treated as just one variable among many. The thematic analysis highlights recurring gender differences in values, motivations, and practices. Women more often emphasize social, emotional, and environmental values, while men tend to focus on timber production, hunting, and economic returns. At the same time, the picture is nuanced by the fact that factors such as age, experience, and education are in some cases more decisive than gender. Research also shows that men are more likely to own, acquire, and actively manage forests, whereas women more often inherit or receive forests as gifts, are co-owners, and engage in complementary activities. Women more frequently report feeling less knowledgeable or confident, yet at the same time express a strong desire to learn and participate in networks that strengthen both their knowledge and legitimacy. Although much research has focused on gender differences, studies also show that forest ownership is strongly shaped by gendered norms and structures. These norms define what a forest owner is, how they are expected to act, and which areas and values are considered central. Such masculinecoded practices and values risk rendering other forms of forest ownership invisible or marginalised, thereby influencing forest planning, policy, and advisory services. At the same time, there are examples of women challenging these norms through alternative practices, networks, and identities. Overall, gender emerges both as a category that distinguishes values and experiences, and as a structuring principle shaping conditions, legitimacy, and room for manoeuvre in forest ownership. The current knowledge base is, however, geographically and methodologically skewed, with a concentration on certain countries and a strong dominance of survey-based studies where gender is often treated as a variable rather than a social and cultural process. Half of the genderfocused studies analyse women, which contributes to equating gender with women, while men and masculinities often remain the norm and largely invisible in analyses. The results highlight that there is a need for more theoretically grounded, comparative, and qualitatively oriented research that can deepen the understanding of how gender both shape and 10 | RAPPORT SKOG is shaped by forest ownership. This is important to reduce the risk of reproducing stereotypes and reinforcing gendered categories, as well as to clarify the normative assumptions and empirical foundations that underpin knowledge production. The lack of theory limits the understanding of gender as a power relation and social structure, and of how it intersects with other social dimensions (class, age, sexuality, etc.), extending beyond a binary understanding of gender. In the pursuit of more gender-equal forest ownership, the review highlights the need to broaden the scope of gender equality efforts and to build a knowledge base that is continuously developed and challenged to ensure desired outcomes. This involves critically reflecting on the foundations and implementation of equality initiatives, to ensure consistency in perspectives and communication and to increase awareness of strengths and limitations in different approaches. To meet these challenges, a long-term, strategic, and inclusive effort is required, that systematically addresses both barriers, masculinities, and the complexity that characterises forest ownership.