Gendered dimensions of climate change among Sámi reindeer herders in Sweden: a feminist political ecology approach

This thesis examines the gendered impacts of climate change in Sámi reindeer-herding communities in Sweden, using feminist political ecology as the main analytical framework. The thesis shows that climate change in Swedish Sápmi is a lived experience stemming from existing structures of power shaped by colonial history that has influenced gender relations, and unequal recognition of knowledge and labour. Within reindeer-herding households, climate-driven pressures have made herding more costly and uncertain, increasing dependence on mechanisation and supplementary feeding. These pressures are not shared equally. Sámi women support adaptation through wage labour and expanded care work, yet this contribution remains largely invisible in statistics and legal definitions. The thesis further argues that technology plays a deeper role than Feminist Political Ecology usually assumes, becoming an element that actively shapes authority and legitimacy within herding communities. At the political level, the thesis shows that Sámi women have a long history of mobilisation and resistance, yet increased institutional visibility has not translated into real decision-making power over land and resources. Crucially, the thesis finds that epistemic hierarchies operate on multiple levels: Sámi knowledge is marginalised externally, and within Sámi institutional responses to that marginalisation, gender remains absent. Most significantly, the thesis finds that for Sámi women, environmental and feminist struggle are inseparable and rooted in a relational worldview where responsibility for land and responsibility for future generations are the same responsibility. The thesis both confirms and extends Feminist Political Ecology. Technology emerges as a force shaping authority rather than simply a resource. The Sámi relational worldview deepens the framework's understanding of care, showing that for Sámi women, caring for land and caring for future generations are the same political act.