Something rarely seen in conjunction with Arctic Council meetings, a panel discussion on the subject of gender, took place as a side event to the recent Ministerial meeting in Kiruna, Sweden.

The panel discussion “Challenges in the Arctic – A Gender Perspective” was part of an Open Seminar organized by the Arctic Council on Tuesday last week, the day before the Ministerial meeting itself.

The last part, to be more precise. Gender issues, like indigenous and other subaltern issues, typically get scheduled late when people are ready to call it a day and getting mentally set for the evening reception. This was also the case in Kiruna when a motivated audience braved the hour, barely outnumbering the panel.