Gender asymmetry in outdoor learning environments

Since the late 1960s, women’s involvement in outdoor education (OE) has increased markedly. Although originally skewed towards a male audience, a handful of gallant women in the 60s, 70s and 80s courageously ventured into this domain. The gendered landscape was predominantly comprised of male practitioners and participants, flavoured by an Outward Bound and Army Cadets mentality (Birrell, in press). However, whilst the overall number of women has risen steadily in the 90s and 21st Century, concomitant growth in our scholarly acumen and professional impact has not enjoyed parity of esteem (Gray, Mitten, Loeffler, Allen-Craig, & Carpenter, 2016). In spite of the influx of gifted women, women lag behind in expert or professional status and are disproportionately underrepresented in leadership positions (Gray, Allen-Craig, & Carpenter, 2017). A recent scan of the gender makeup of the Board for the Outdoor Council of Australia reveals 100% male domination (see www.outdoorcouncil.asn.au/about/board/). Likewise, there is a monopoly by male keynote speakers at OE conferences that does not accurately reflect the audience. There is an “absence of women as significant players or “protagonists” in the OE field. As a discipline, OE focuses disproportionately — if not exclusively — on male theorists whilst also exalting and valorising the insights of men. Not a single woman is mentioned in Wikipedia in the OE field, as it traces the contours of male professional lives. This begs the question: How and why have women been erased from the public eye?” (Gray, 2016b, p. 27). The gender bias issue has become more acute over the past decade, as noted by a number of authors who have contributed to the ground breaking book, The Palgrave International Handbook of Women in Outdoor Learning. Women successfully guide programmes and build award-winning careers, whilst also remaining largely indiscernible when it comes to invitations for keynote addresses or citation rates in journals. The unconscious bias women face diminishes our expertise and lessens our penetration in the profession. Our exclusion is subtle and pervasive in mysterious ways, and women need to keep their “gender radar” highly attuned to these inconsistencies.