Kompetensutrymme inom byggnadsvården. Betydelsen av genus i hantverksprocesser

Abstract

Conservation, as a way of describing and writing new history has been criticized the past ten years for not including gender, ethnicity and class as important factors when a cultural heritage is defined and preserved. Studies in Sweden have shown connections between discrimination and masculine gendered professions, whereby gender has been used as an instrument to understand structural power relations in different working areas. The purpose of this survey is to use gender theories in order to understand whether female carpenters working within the field of conservation are in some way limited and if so, how this may be expressed. The questions that have been asked are focused on the carpenter, how the respondent relates its practice to its own gender and what types of consequences this may have in a male-dominant field. The results, based on interviews and literature regarding gender in numerous perspectives, show that the respondents in different ways relate to and coordinate their behavior concerning gender as an active part in their role as carpenters. Regardless of whether they feel confident in their profession or not, the work itself as gendered creates a need to react, in order to either confirm or reject its masculinity. This same pattern can be found in a range of different studies, both outside and within the field of conservation. This gives the subject good potential for further inquiries regarding the connection between performing gender and carpentry in the context of cultural heritage.