Gender Relations' Dynamic and Social Status in the Context of an Educational Wilderness Expedition

The outdoor domain has frequently been identified as one where women's skills and competences were undervalued compared with those of men. The aim of the study was to explore how men and women interact in the context of an educational wilderness expedition. The concepts of field, forms of capital and habitus of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu were used to highlight the distinctive strategies deployed by women and men to be recognized as outdoor leaders and improve their status within the expedition group. We carried out a multi-component ethnographic data collection to document three main aspects of the gender interactions: (1) the gender-based division of the outdoor activities; (2) the symbolic value given by the participants to the different types of outdoor involvement; and (3) the gender-based strategies to uplift or maintain one's own social status. Findings suggest that gender as well as social class are two intersections that played a significant role in participants' involvement and their chance to stand out. Data also indicate that women engage in various strategies to have their outdoor skills appreciated and therefore uplift their status within the group, while men build mainly on their traditionally recognized physical capital.