Congratulations to Associate Professor Tonia Gray and Professor Denise Mitten on the release of the Palgrave International Handbook of Women and Outdoor Learning
This handbook celebrates the richness of knowledge and practices of women practitioners in outdoor learning environments.
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.
“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
The Handbook serves as a starting point for critical analysis and discourse about the status of women in outdoor learning environments. 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 outdoor learning environments suggest that many women feel invisible, relegated, marginalized, and undervalued.
While social inequalities still abound in outdoor learning environments, 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.
The handbook can be purchased at the below link and if you use the discount code PM18TWENTY you will receive a 20% discount!