Bushcraft and women

[sapling]

Im very glad that this topic was raised and has been so full of responses for a couple of reasons:

Im a uni student in my fourth year of study (who still cant spell!) and am in the process of writing my dissertation which is on ‘gender in adventure’. I hope to draw on many sources of info for writing it and hopefully some of the folks on here will be willing to lend their views.
Im just trying to gauge if anyone would be interested (particularly the females) in sharing some of their experiences good or bad in relation to how gender has impacted or influenced their experiences?

Might have to start a new thread for this one?

I also help out on some of the Backwoods Survival courses so have a bit of experience of women in bush craft /survival courses and have not noticed on any of the courses which i have been in attendace that gender has ever been an issue.
Infact the last course i was on had more women than men in attendance.

Cheers

 

[John Fenna]

I have never seen bushcraft as a gender specific interest (and I am not into cars so that conversation is lost on me!) and enjoy swapping recipes, sewing tips etc as much as I do looking at new shiney sharps, whep we sit around the campfire.
OK - on a male only (by chance not design) meet then the language and jokes may turn a little raw (once the kids have turned in) but such things are not a neccessity for a good evenings entertainment, and in fact can be a bore!
I would encourage all women to come along to meets - if only to civilize the conversation a bit, as they have a lot to contribute to all aspects of bushcraft.
It was the gender descrimination that is part of "Bushcraft and Survival" magazine that was one of the things that put me off that publication (it seemed to enshrine the attitude that 'the girlies" need special articles like which choccy bar is nicer Yorkie or CDM and other such patronising tosh)
Bushcraft trancends gender!
This bushyboy likes cooking, knifemaking, playing with axes, sewing, carving, admiring natures beauty, "roughing it" in primitive camps and absorbing the Spiritual upliftment that being out in the wilds can offer.
I am sure I am not alone in this with others from both sides of tthe gender devide feeling the same way about bushcraft.

 

[crazydave]

genetically it has seperated the sexes as well. there is the multitasking mentioned all over the place,men can run faster is so they didn't get squashed by the fact that the daft aperths picked the biggest animal they could find and it wasn't up for the idea. not sure where along the way they lost their patience for anything except the job they want to do rather than the job they need to do though.

women lost spacial/3d awarness somewhere (probably in a drawer in the kitchen) which is why they cant park very well but that bit of the brain was replaced by the ability to spot food so they can see berries in dense bushes or modernly a red sale ticket on a clothes rack in a crowded store at 20m

without wanting a backlash women do give up on things a little too easy sometimes but normally thats because the task is not that relevant to living. so they can walk around the shops all day in high heel but moan after an hour in walking boots, if a knife can cut then thats enough it doesn't have to be stupidly sharp and shiny

we used to discuss group dynamics, armies dont like women in the front line as the men get freaked out when they are injured and it makes the group more defensive in posture which is ideal for a survival situation. plus there are some great stories about female survival out there.

I like to see the women on activities, girls in scouting certainly made for a more interesting weekend if only fo rthe change in conversation and the way it calmed the boys down and focused them to actually finishing things because the girls had allready done so.

 

[Armleywhite]

I think it's great that women are interested in Bushcraft etc... So long as all the washing Ironing and house cleaning is done then no problem at all.

 

[xylaria]

I think it's great that women are interested in Bushcraft etc... So long as all the washing Ironing and house cleaning is done then no problem at all.

Somebody Irons???!!!!!!!

She that has a clean house has a boring life.

 

[ForgeCorvus]

Somebody Irons???!!!!!!!

She that has a clean house has a boring life.

In my home, its me.........I'm also the one who does the sewing (she does all the cars and football......so thats 'fair' I'm told )

I also work wood, metal, glass, plastic, flint and just about any other material I can get my hands on.
Herself feeds things and cares for the various critters (and plants) we share our home with.

To bring this back (closer) to topic.
Have you ever noticed the different ways the genders clean.
Women (tend to) do it peicemeal and often by tidying up the small muddles every day (sometimes several times in a day) as and when they notice them. Thereby not ever letting the mess really develop.
Blokes (myself included) wait untill its total chaos and then assault the whole thing with every gadget and chemical they can find (or borrow from their mates)

I suppose this comes down to the earlier point, men are driven by 'Goals/Targets', women by the 'Process' (looking at the hunter/gatherer bit, men hunt the big animal and ignore the bunnies, women go 'looking for food' and find stuff)

That said, I'm sure that going bush as part of a mixed group will lead to a different experence for all.

I'm very pleased to find that there seem to be quite alot of female persons on here and most (if not all) are bushies in your own right
Mind you, if this site was called SurvivalUK, I wonder if that would be still true ? (I'm not sure I'd be posting on that site, not my interest )

Xylaria, A clean house is the sign of a sick mind :yelrotflm

 

[crazydave]

well I do all the shopping, sewing, cooking and most of the cleaning well blokey cleaning anyway I hate the way women squirrel everything away so you cant find it. a bloke will pick the item up, clean it, wipe where it was then put it back

same for hoovering - its clean, might look untidy but I know where everything is - she calls it cluttered and tidies her rooms only to complain that she cant find anything

survivalUK would probably do ok if people didnt put such a bad name to things in order to make themselves look better like haggling politicians. back in the 80's survival as well as how to stay alive before mobile phones and gps was linked to self sufficiency, coppicing and hedgrow crafts which were generally practised by couples and middle aged folk in the same way bushcraft is now - same thing, same ethic different name and higher prices. people were just as interested in the world of survival series etc.. as they've allways been interested in such topics. before bushcraft in the 90's when I used to run survival courses for the kids and leaders it was little different than today, we still made spoons and bowls but there was a lot more emphasis on improvisation which the women generally had the best ideas for the blokes to produce.

the dishwasher was I believe invented by a woman back in late 1800's probably because she couldn't find her husband, the hoover was a blokes invention probably because she did

 

[nomade]

Regarding the different tasks "allocated" to either woman or man in hunting-gathering days (and today in indigenous communities) one thing is staring you in the face:
women were breast feeding one or more children at any given time, this rules out a number of tasks: the women can't run as fast and be as agile hunters as their men if they carry or expect a baby + are followed around by toddlers and small kids mucking about during the hunt (female predators in the animal world miss many kills due to having their noisy playful and clumsy offspring around them). For this reason men go hunting and women tend to stay in one place doing most of the other tasks.

 

[luddy]

I think it's great that women are interested in Bushcraft etc... So long as all the washing Ironing and house cleaning is done then no problem at all.

What's an iron? If I buy clothing, after the first wash, if it needs ironing, off it goes to the charity shop. Someone else can have the pleasure. I don't get many, because before I buy anything, I give it a good scrunch to see if it creases!

To return to the original question: I'm a woman and I use this site. (Sounds like an intro at an AA meeting!). I've been practising bushcraft since I was nine (long story, but it was essential to the survival of myself and my brother), and I can't stop - it's a way of life. I've never been to a meet or course, so I can't say what they're like.

Anyway, welcome! I'm fairly new here myself.

-Jean.

 

[Tengu]

You must come to our Bushmoot Luddy, you sound great fun.

Nomade, what about the societies where women did hunt (the Saami, I think, but there must be others)

 

[luddy]

You must come to our Bushmoot Luddy, you sound great fun.

Thank you! I'm not sure about meetings, hubby reached 60 this year, and he reckons he's getting too old for sleeping on the ground. He does have arthritis, diabetes and asthma, so I suppose he has a point. We're thinking of getting something like a Forward Control Landrover and converting it to sleep in (in a bit more comfort than usual), but we can still get out and about and I can get my foraging fix.

 

[crazydave]

breastfeeding never thought of that and its not staring me in the face that often. could that be why man boobs are coming then? evolution trying to make up for women working

 

[nomade]

Tengu wrote:
Nomade, what about the societies where women did hunt (the Saami, I think, but there must be others)

Yes of course, I was generalising and there is too great a variety of cultures around the world for generalisations to include all o them. Thanks for reminding us. People did what with the test of time worked best for them in their own environment. And a great variety of solutions were found.

But the pattern of women being more associated with the shelter, whatever form it takes and however permanent it is, and the men taking care of hunts is very widespread. And it is not about physical force.

This leads me to why there are more men than women in the field of the great outdoors, outdoor survival, bushcraft, etc The qualities required are it seems equally masculine and feminine, women are better communicators on the whole, in ancient traditions they wrere indeed leading and enjoying this outdoors life and knew all the crafts involved, so why not our modern urban sisters?

I wonder if there is not a question of "territory". It could be that men have occupied this cultural "territory" earlier and maybe women don't feel at ease in it because men already gave their masculine mark to this domaine or territory and it is like "all theirs" now. Only a suggestion because I am not sure at all of the reasons for this difference.

 

[drewdunnrespect]

well all i can say is who cares what gender if you like bushcraft come and join us here at the best bushcraft site on the net and share you knowladge and such like cheers drew if not dont its as simple as that

 

[hen]

well all i can say is who cares what gender if you like bushcraft come and join us here at the best bushcraft site on the net and share you knowladge and such like cheers drew if not dont its as simple as that

can't say fairer than that.

 

[nomade]

well all i can say is who cares what gender if you like bushcraft come and join us here at the best bushcraft site on the net and share you knowladge and such like cheers drew if not dont its as simple as that

Of course Drewdunnrespect you are right, I completely agree, but you are talking about real life. This is a discussion, not real life. Discussions have a life of their own, sometimes a mind of their own and they are carried on and on for their own sake mostly by unstoppable talkers like me

 

[william#]

you mean there are woman here ?
what real woman
lol

 

[Womble_Lancs]

you mean there are woman here ?
what real woman
lol

I'm an unreal woman

 

[hen]

you mean there are woman here ?
what real woman
lol

..........