More Women Needed in Reindeer Husbandry

Written by Philip Burgess

Friday, 15 May 2009 15:38

The Norwegian Sami Parliament has just released a report entitled Melding om samisk reindrift. The report outlines the challenges facing Sami reindeer husbandry and notes the centrality of family to the livelihood. The report states that the role of women in reindeer husbandry has been weakened over the last decades. President of the Sami Parliament, Egil Olli, stated to the media "Nomadism is a family-based industry, and we want to involve the women to a greater extent in its operation". A concrete proposal is to initiate discussions with the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture about a stipend programme to encourage women's further participation. These concerns speak directly to a project underway by the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry and the Boazoealáhusa Nissonfierpmádat (Reindeer Herding Women's Network - the logo of which you can see here), coordinated by Karen Inga Kemi. You can read more about the BIRGEN project here on the Reindeer Portal. Many of these issues were discussed at the opening seminar of the BIRGEN project which was held in Kautokeino / Guovdageaidnu early in 2009. You can watch this seminar online here. You can download the Report here on the Reindeer Portal Archive. You can watch the clip here about this issue on NRK Sami Net TV Related Articles/Posts