摘要：Amateur naturalism can be considered a kind of environmental citizenship arising from a close relationshipwith nature. Amateur naturalism is also a form of serious leisure, where participants are classified accordingto their skills and level of commitment. There are differences between different specializations in amateurnaturalism in the proportion of women and types of activities but, in Finland, female amateur naturalists aregenerally in the minority. In this article, I discuss women’s lesser participation in amateur naturalism and itspossible causes. The discussion is based on material collected among amateur naturalists in the Tampereregion in south-west Finland. It seems that there are no formal barriers to women’s full participation inamateur naturalist activities. However, the public image of e.g. birdwatching as competitive leisure activitydoes not attract women as much as men. An implicit ladder of esteem structures the naturalist society,and trust determines whose knowledge counts. Many female amateur naturalists are on the outskirts ofthe community, and thus may not be aware that acknowledgement presupposes demonstrable knowledge.I argue that, instead of exclusive classifications of amateur naturalists, it is more productive to focus ontheir heterogeneity and the possibilities of emerging environmental citizenships.
