Women reject the Arctic to a higher degree than men. This applies to Canada, Alaska and the northern parts of Sweden, Norway and Finland, but the greatest shortage of women is in northern Russia and in Greenland. There are just 85 women for every 100 men in Greenland. Among Greenlanders living in Denmark however, the majority are women.
The 8th of March Group works to reduce domestic violence against women.
"During the past 20 to 30 years, women have increasingly abandoned the role of the traditional housewife of the hunting and trapping husband," says Katrine Nathanielsen from the 8th of March Group. "Women are getting educations and making money while men are stagnating."
"This can lead to conflicts between men and women when the gender roles change, when the proud but poorly educated hunter loses status," says Inge Olesen Brandt, who serves on Greenland's council for equality. "And this can lead both to suicides among men and domestic violence against women."
The climate has been steadily warming in Greenland during the past ten years. And in the Greenland debate, the traditional lifestyle is depicted as the loser now that the climate is changing. This is because the traditional culture is based on hunting with dog sleds, and when no snow falls and the ice does not form, the hunters can no longer support themselves. This is also an image that has spread internationally.
But social changes and altered gender roles are a greater threat to the old culture than changes to the climate according to Rasmus Ole Rasmusen at the Nordic Council's research institute Nordrigio. Young people, primarily younger women, are not especially interested in conforming to the traditional male-dominated culture, where the man hunts and the woman takes care of the home, the children and the spoils of the hunt. And when there is a shortage of women, it is difficult to maintain the hunting and trapping culture.
Knud Möllegård lives in Sisimiut, situated at the Polar Circle. With a population of 5,500, this community on Greenland's west coast is the country's second largest. He is feeding his 24 huskies when we arrive.
Knud Möllegaard supported himself for many years as a traditional hunter and trapper, but the financial rewards were insufficient. He is now a recreational hunter and has a good job with the social services administration where he works with the rehabilitation of young people who have run afoul of the law. The shortage of women is a problem for those who try to live off hunting.
"Those who try to make a living as hunters in Greenland today must have a wife with a good job who can support both the children and the hunter due to hunting no longer being profitable," says Knud Möllegard.
This story is posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.