Challenging Gender Roles and Expectations in Outdoor Field Experiences

Summary Though field experiences require equitable contributions from each member in order to be successful, western socialized gender norms often find themselves playing out as participants who identify as women tend to take the “caretaker” role in tasks such as campsite setup and cooking while those who identify as men often focus on the technical aspects of the activity itself. This case study explores how this frequent dynamic can be challenged and leveraged as an opportunity to more broadly identify how socialized gender norms negatively impact society as a whole.