Building on ongoing academic efforts to better understand gender in the Arctic, “Women of the Arctic” seeks to carve out a non-academic space for women and girls who work on or live in the Arctic to explore the roles and contributions of women to northern policy-making, research, exploration, art, activism, and daily life.

As the Arctic conference landscape continues to grow steadily, initiatives focusing on Arctic women specifically – the successes they achieve and the challenges they face – remain few and far between. “Women of the Arctic” seeks to fill this critical gap and reach beyond the academic sphere to illuminate the stories and perspectives of a broad range of women. Ultimately, the objective is to create an awareness of, and promote a continued focus on, issues relating to northern women and non-Arctic women who engage with Polar realities.

Supported by funding from NordForsk, “Women of the Arctic” will collaborate with The Arctic Cycle playwright and Artistic Director Chantal Bilodeau to present a short play inspired by the women of Alaska, which will be performed by a group of professional and student actors. ”Women of the Arctic” organizers will also work with the creative communications collective What Took You So Long to maintain a long-term focus on the issues raised during this two-day side-event by building a digital storytelling platform dedicated to women and gender in the Arctic.

Event Details:

“Women of the Arctic: Bridging Policy, Research, and Lived Experience” will be hosted by the University of Helsinki as a part of the UArctic Congress 2018 on September 6th and 7th (program forthcoming).

Learn more:

For the program, registration details (forthcoming), and more see: www.genderisnotplanb.com.

Have suggestions or ideas for the “Women of the Arctic”? Send the project coordinators a note!

Project Director:

Outi Snellman: outi.snellman@ulapland.fi
UArctic

Project Coordinators:

Malgorzata (Gosia) Smieszek: Malgorzata.Smieszek@ulapland.fi
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland/ SYKE
International Arctic Science Committee (IASC)

Tahnee Prior: tahnee.prior@fondationtrudeau.net
Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo
Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar

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Photo copyright: Nancy Forde