The Applicant Is No Gentleman: Women in the Forest Service
Author: Lewis, James G.1
Source: Journal of Forestry, Volume 103, Number 5, July/August 2005 , pp. 259-263(5)
Abstract:
For much of the 20th century, the esprit de corps of the Forest Service depended heavily on the notion of the agency as an elite fraternity. The job of forester itself—a combination of lumberjack, frontiersman, explorer, and Old West sheriff—provided an opportunity for men to live the “strenuous life,” that most masculine of lifestyles. The reality, however, was that this boys' club could not have functioned nearly as well without the women in its midst. It is only within the last three decades of the 20th century that women have been admitted into the fraternity, and only after they forced their way in. The article is adapted from the book, The Forest Service and the Greatest Good: A Centennial History (Forest History Society 2005, Durham, NC) the companion book to the film, “The Greatest Good: A Forest Service Centennial Film.”Keywords: history; women; Forest Service; Consent Decree; environmental management; forest; forest management; forest resources; forestry; forestry research; forestry science; natural resources; natural resource management
Document Type: Regular article
Affiliations: 1: Staff Historian Forest History Society 701 William Vickers Avenue Durham NC 27701, Email: jglewis@duke.edu
