GENDER CHALLENGES & HUMAN CAPITAL
IN THE
ARCTIC
Kathleen Lahey, Eva-Maria Svensson & Åsa Gunnarsson
This paper brings critical gender perspectives to the interrogation of northern human capital discourses, most of which tend to
deploy gender-neutral concepts in analyzing productive capacities to perform labour and produce measurable economic value. From
gendered and Indigenous perspectives, this concept of human capital excludes unpaid work relating to social reproduction, human
welfare, and subsistence or in kind production, as well as the value of traditional and indigenous knowledges and processes. In
Arctic/northern contexts, burgeoning interest in industrialized resource extraction, transportation, and fisheries affects labour
market sectors mainly occupying men, and, not surprisingly, risks intensifying the social, economic, and political marginalization
of women and Indigenous peoples.
As members of the TUAQ Arctic Gender Equality Network, the authors approach these issues from governance perspectives,
noting that despite state obligations to mainstream gender issues in policy development and to respect Indigenous rights under
domestic and international agreements, women’s and indigenous peoples’ voices are largely absent from discussions of the economic,
environmental, and human development policies that shape human engagement in relation to the north. This paper outlines
governance gaps, gender and indigenous women’s inequalities, and economic imbalances that flow from this situation. The paper
concludes with an analysis of how the costs and losses of the ‘paradox of plenty’ borne by women, indigenous, and northern
communities can be reversed, and calls on multilateral governance bodies to take firm steps to implement these measures.
Gender Equality, Indigenous Peoples, and Circumpolar Governance Issues
The Arctic has become increasingly important because of the many climate, economic, social, and
legal changes affecting the peoples living in this region, and because of the increased focus on the
Kathleen Lahey is Professor, Faculty of Law, at Queen’s University. Eva-Maria Svensson is Professor, Faculty
of Law, at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and Department of Law, University of Gothenburg. Åsa
Gunnarsson is Professor, Umeå Forum for Studies on Law and Society, at Umeå University.