Worldwide, female rangers make up less than 11 per cent of the total ranger workforce. In the United Kingdom, the situation is different: female rangers are represented in most ranger teams and nothing new to the public. Shona Irvine works as a ranger in the Scottish Cairngorms. We spoke to her about how equally her team, its tasks and public perception of authority and skills are distributed between the two genders.
Read on to find out how, at first glance, there is a fair distribution of staff and tasks. But old patterns repeatedly lead to subtle sexism in the way the public reacts to the women in her ranger team.
Shona, could you give us an overview of your duties as a ranger and your area?
I work for the Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ranger Service in the Cairngorms National Park. We work alongside the national park rangers, but our work focuses on Cairngorm mountain itself, and the land we own and work in covers Cairngorm Mountain summit at 1245m, the ski area and beyond into the coires. In winter, it’s mainly skiers, but in summer there are lots of other activities.
We look after protected areas in this region, Special Sites of Scientific Interest and other designated areas. We do pathwork and other on-the-ground tasks, like seeding and habitat restoration. We offer guided walks for the public and do educational programmes with school groups. Today, I actually visited a local primary school to talk to the children about the weather. We have a weather station at our ranger station and report daily to the weather office, but also use it when visitors ask for the weather forecast. Our ranger station is located at a car park, which is a good starting point for trips into the mountains. So we have a lot of visitors walking in and asking questions.
How would you assess your role in the team: how fair is the distribution of tasks between female and male rangers, and what is the gender balance like?
Our ranger team currently is made up of me and two men. We also have two seasonal rangers, one lady and one man. Within Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd, we work in land management as part of a team with engineers who are responsible for the ski lift and many other employees who take care of the infrastructure. When we have a meeting with this larger team, I am usually the only woman. But in our team, it’s pretty balanced – also in terms of tasks.
It’s more subtle things where I notice a difference. We do a lot of very physical work. When the other departments need help, it’s often the boys who are asked. But at the same time, they’ve been working here longer and have more experience. There’s also a café at the top of the hill. When they were completely understaffed, they asked me for help, not my colleagues. Partly because they knew I would feel sorry for them. So there are small differences, but fortunately very few. And I am well aware that I’m probably not as strong as my male colleagues. Conversely, I take a little more care of groups like today at school. But that’s also because I enjoy it more than my colleagues do.
How does the public react to you as a ranger – do you feel that you are respected as an authority figure in your area in the same way as your male colleagues?
We often have to remind people to keep their dogs on a leash, as there are ground-nesting birds on the plateau. At the beginning of the season, I try to be friendly. But sometimes people don’t listen to me, so by the end of the season I’m less friendly. Visitors listen more directly to my male colleagues, especially the senior ranger. However, he always gets straight to the point.
There are people who mean well, but are a little patronising towards me. For example, when we are repairing paths and digging drains, older people in particular say ‘Oh, well done’ to me, while they just say ‘Hi’ to my colleagues. As if it were a surprise that women do physical work.
Shona Irvine, ranger in the Cairngorms ©Cairngorm Mountain Scotland
Also when I have taken groups out doing pathwork, time and again I experienced that especially older men don’t listen to me as much. And when we rangers are out as a group, people often approach me when they want to complain or have a conversation, for example. They seem to think it’s easier to talk to me. So it often happens that I have to talk a lot and explain to people what we are doing. There are also people who mean well, but are a little patronising towards me. For example, when we are repairing paths and digging drains, older people in particular say ‘Oh, well done’ to me, while they just say ‘Hi’ to my colleagues. As if it were a surprise that women do physical work. Other people tell me how to do this work, which they don’t say to my male colleagues. It’s these slightly sexist comments that sometimes wear you down.
What are your particular strengths? And to what extent do you think these are related to being a woman?
I like to think that I really encourage people to get outside and take an interest in the world around them. I enjoy leading walks to teach people who may never have been up a mountain before a little about the landscape, the plants that grow there and the cultural history of the region. I feel that I can bring them a little closer to the mountain world and raise their awareness of it. That’s why I really enjoy working with different groups and hope that I can convey to them the importance of protecting the mountain world. I don’t think this has to do much with me being a woman, but more with me as a person.
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