The new project of the University of Lapland will promote dialogue on gender-specific structural inequality, and will develop concrete recommendations to support gender equality in the reindeer herding Sámi communities. The project is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ (NCM) Gender Equality Fund (NIKK).

The project aims at building a network of scholars
from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Greenland and Russia in order to collect, and gather,
existing knowledge concerning the structures that cause inequality between the Sámi
women and men in the reindeer herding communities. The plan is to organize three
knowledge-building workshops in Finland, Sweden and Norway, and invite experts, Sámi
stakeholders, policy makers to the events.

– We want to
understand what kind structures are causing gender-specific inequality amongst Sámi
reindeer herder communities, in particular of the Sámi inhabitant in Finland, Sweden
and Norway, and what kind of gender-specific effects “structural inequality” may
have on reindeer herding industry for example to the equal access of women to
herding as livelihood practice. In this context, it is also important to explore,
how such practices provide implications for the enjoyment of human rights of the
Sámi, tells Kamrul Hossain from the Arctic Centre.

The
project is titled “Deconstructing Structural Inequality: Gender Equality in Reindeer
Herding Sámi Communities” and the project duration is 2018 – 2020. The NIKK has
granted 450,000.00 DKK (around 65, 000 €) funding for the project. The project is
hosted by the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (NIEM) of the
Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland and it led by the Research Professor and
Director of NIEM Kamrul Hossain. The other team member of the host institution is
Project Coordinator Assi Harkoma.

More
information:

Dr. Kamrul Hossain
Research Professor / Director
Northern Institute for Environmental and
Minority Law
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
+358 40
484 4281, kamrul.hossain (at) ulapland.fi

Assi
Harkoma
Project Coordinator
Northern Institute for
Environmental and Minority Law
Arctic Centre, University of
Lapland
+358 40 484 4159, assi.harkoma (at) ulapland.fi

 

LaY/AK/AH&JW