At the international women foresters conference on November 17th, 2022 in Bled/Slovenia, women foresters from 6 European countries announced the founding of the international umbrella organization “Women in Forestry International” (WOFO). The association wants to network women in the forest and timber industry at national and international level, act as a contact for politics, the media and companies, and initiate and support research and projects on women in the forest sector. Because the industry is still strongly influenced by men, and women represent a clear minority or are even "the first". This is often accompanied by problems, from the feeling of being a lone fighter to very practical problems such as a lack of suitable work clothing and tools for women. “It’s about sharing knowledge and experience and mutual support. And it's about role models and the visibility of women in the forestry and timber industry," says the new chairwoman Dagmar Karisch-Gierer about the goals of the new association. The founding members make up the six-member board. Dagmar Karisch-Gierer represents the Austrian association "Forstfrauen", her deputy Iza Pigan the Polish "Stowarzyszenie Kobiet Lasu". The secretary is Ragnhildur Freysteinsdóttir from Iceland, her deputy Maren Ammer as delegate of the German "Women in Forestry eV". Treasurer is Nike Krajnc as Slovenian representative with her deputy Lesya Loyko from Ukraine. The official seat of the association is Sankt Barbara im Mürztal/Austria.

The founding members found each other in the EU-funded project "Fem4Forest - Forest in Women's Hands", which ended with the conference on November 17, 2022 in Bled/Slovenia. 14 partners from 10 countries in the Danube region were involved in the project. The aim was to collect data on women in forestry, to make them visible and to explore their professional situation, problems, but above all success factors and wishes. On this basis, concrete measures were developed and implemented that enable women to be more actively involved in the forest sector. These include forest excursions for women, communication and managerial training, mentoring for young forest women and the promotion of regional networking.

The German association "Frauen im Forstbereich e.V." was founded in 1993 on the initiative of young foresters and is based in Göttingen. To this day, the association organizes an annual conference, next year for the anniversary in Gießen. In addition, there has been a lively international exchange since the beginning of the association, as well as the support of scientific projects on the subject of "Women in the forest".

More information about

• WOFO: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087768978712
• Fem4Forest: https://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/fem4forest#!
• Forstfrauen: www.forstfrauen.de