The Palgrave International Handbook of Women and Outdoor Learning

"As a male in a profession perfused with male hegemony, this book has opened my eyes to the many profound - yet often unnoticed - thoughts, feelings and contributions of female colleagues. It is a waymark along the path towards further maturation that all involved in our profession will continue to journey." (John Quay, Associate Professor in Education, University of Melbourne, Australia) "This important book is a first class and comprehensive volume for students and scholars to explore the narratives of power, oppression and equality associated with women outdoors. This book will help university students and the outdoor profession to re-story its future so that a heightened sense of gender awareness and the cultural shift needed can be woven into the fabric of the outdoor profession. At last it has been written! Thank you." (Mark Leather, Senior Lecturer in Outdoor Adventure Education, Plymouth Marjon University, UK) "Unconscious bias in a male constructed field like the outdoors needs constant attention as both men and women are affected by it. I have been part of teams and committees that worked hard to achieve 'balance' only for it to slip away once it was achieved. The bias, present in both men and also, surprisingly to me, women, does not go way. It needs our constant effort. This book is a major contribution to just that." (Chris Loynes, Reader in Outdoor Studies, University of Cumbria, UK) "This book has challenged my good intentions around and helped to expose my misconceptions of gender issues in the outdoors. It has moved me closer toward a much-needed understanding of the issues and challenges women face. It's an absolute must read for those who wish to better understand the gender bias that favours men in outdoor education." (Tom G. Potter, Associate Professor, Lakehead University, Canada)

This Handbook serves as a starting point for critical analysis and discourse about the status of women in outdoor learning environments (OLEs).
This Handbook serves as a starting point for critical analysis and discourse about the status of women in outdoor learning environments (OLEs). Women choose to participate actively in outdoors careers, many believing the profession is a level playing field and that it offers alternatives to traditional sporting activities. They enter outdoor learning primarily on the strength of their enthusiasm for leading and teaching in natural environments and assume the field is inclusive, rewarding excellence regardless of age, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, or ethnicity. However, both research and collective experiences in OLEs suggest that many women feel invisible, relegated, marginalized, and undervalued.  In response to this marginalization, this Handbook celebrates the richness of knowledge and practices of women practitioners in OLEs. Women scholars and practitioners from numerous fields, such as experiential outdoor education, adventure education, adventure therapy, and gender studies, explore the implications of their research and practice using poignant examples within their own disciplines. These insights emerge from similar life experiences as women and outdoor leaders in the 1970s to the present. Social inequalities still abound in OLEs, and the Handbook ensures that the contributions of women are highlighted as well as the work that needs to be done to make these spaces inclusive.
Global in perspective and capacious in content, this one-stop volume is an indispensable reference resource for a diverse range of academics, including students and researchers in the fields of education, psychology, sociology, gender studies, geography, and environment studies, as well as the many outdoors fields.