Willing, Caring and Capable: Gendered Ideals of Vernacular Preparedness in Finland

Abstract:This article analyzes women’s own emergency preparedness courses within voluntary defense training Finland as a site of “vernacular security”. The article introduces a subcategory of vernacular security, “vernacular preparedness” to illustrate what woman citizens familiar with voluntary defense training make of security and defense policies where they are seen as key actors in producing grass-roots security, both as private citizens and when serving state institutions. The interviewees, both participants and course leaders, situate themselves within a gendered division of security labor characterized by male conscription. This produces a civic ideal of a psychologically resilient, altruistically caring, and physically capable civilian whose preparedness covers concerns ranging from emergencies and disasters to potential wartime efforts.