Ecofeminism

Feminist environmentalists argue that the domination of women by men reflects and reinforces the domination of the environment by society, and that the two are understood to be linked; patriarchal gender relations in society correspond to an [Page 507]drocentric environmental ethics. Ecofeminism posits that the same masculinist habits of thinking and behavior that devalue, oppress, and exploit women also do so to nature; and are mutually reinforcing hegemonic processes pivoting around artificial Western binary oppositions interpreted by religion, science, government, and other androcentric agencies (superiority/inferiority and as domination/subordination that include human/nature, male/female, mind/body, reason/emotion, objective/subjective, and material/spiritual). Furthermore, classism, heterosexism, racism, and speciesism as well as sexism are all presumed to be interrelated. Thus, the liberation of women and of nature from male domination and abuse are causally interconnected. Accordingly, ecofeminism contains political as well as philosophical, theological, sociological, and ecological concerns. At the same time, there are several variants of ecofeminism that in general correspond to different foci for political thought and action within feminism, including liberal, cultural, social, and socialist feminists. However, these variants of ecofeminism have in common feminist challenges and alternatives to tyrannical patriarchal power structures that oppress, exploit, and abuse women and nature in different cultural, environmental, political, and historical contexts.

The French writer Francoise d'Eaubonne founded the Ecologie–Feminisme (Ecology–Feminism Center) in Paris in 1972, and coined the term ecofeminism in her 1974 book Le Feminisme ou la Mort (Feminism or Death). Since the mid-1970s, some of the more important pioneers in ecofeminism include Carol J. Adams, Chris J. Cuomo, Mary Daly, Greta Gaard, Susan Griffin, Wangari Maathai, Sallie McFague, Carolyn Merchant, Gloria Orenstein, Val Plumwood, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Ariel Salleh, Vandana Shiva, Charlene Spretnak, Mary Stange, Starhawk, Alice Walker, and Karen J. Warren. The United Nations Decade for Women (1975–1985) and other international initiatives by the UN and other organizations have contributed to the development of ecofeminism as well. Today there are numerous monographs, anthologies, book series, journals, websites, conferences and conference sessions on ecofeminism. However, ecofeminism has been criticized by many, including both feminists and ecofeminists, on various grounds, such as for essentializing the connection between women and nature, idealizing women in non-Western cultures, appropriating indigenous religious rituals, dividing academics and activists, and alienating ecofeminists from feminists and vice versa.

To take a particular example, the Chipko movement in the Himalayan foothills of northern India is one of the earliest political initiatives by women concerned about the environment. Many villages in India have long depended on local forests as a major source of food, fuel, fodder, materials, [Page 508]medicines, and spirituality. However, beginning in the 1970s, women who had been temporarily left behind in the village as men sought employment beyond had to defend their precious forests from outside loggers encouraged by government agencies. The women adopted Gandhian methods of nonviolent resistance by joining hands to encircle and thereby protect trees. The loggers were intimidated and withdrew. The Chipko movement led to the development of government policies on natural resources that were more sensitive to the concerns of local people. It has been recognized in India and internationally for preventing the deforestation of substantial areas of the country.

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