Indigenous Peoples and Gender Equality with Special Reference to Sámi Reindeer Herding
Indigenous Peoples and Gender Equality with Special Reference to Sámi Reindeer Herding
By Maura Hanrahan, Ritva Kylli, Ildikó Asztalos Morell, Elena Bogdanova et al., & Maria Ackrén
Preface by Kamrul Hossain
This book is a compilation of five individual contributions that highlight the gender equality perspectives of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic region, with a special focus on the Sámi communities. While the book offers an understanding of gender disparities, it specifically emphasises the reindeer-herding Sámi indigenous communities. It was prepared as one of the deliverables of a project entitled “Deconstructing Structural Inequality: Gender Equality in Reindeer-Herding Sámi Communities,” which was hosted at the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland and was funded by the Nordic Gender Equality Fund (NIKK) for two years, from 2018 to 2021. The project’s primary purpose was to build a network of scholars and stakeholders, including the Sámi female reindeer herders, to promote a dialogue on issues of gender inequality, particularly in the context of Finland, Norway and Sweden. However, the project also included participants from the Russian North and Greenland to examine gender equality issues connected to the project’s central theme. The project gathered relevant background knowledge from the existing literature, policy documents and legislation on gender equality that may apply to the Sámi and their reindeer-herding communities, which eventually facilitated dialogues amongst the participants.