FEMINISM AND ECOLOGY

2006

This paper attempts to engender environmental problems mainly by using a theory of ecofeminism that gives voices to the environmentally humiliated and misrecognized, that is, nature and women. First, I would like to juxtapose the major five schools of ecofeminism. Next, with use of the theory of materialist (social and socialist) ecofeminism, I will engender environmental problems and eventually indicate that the men’s sphere has created such problems. The paper concludes that overturning masculinity in the men’s sphere is significant in addressing environmental issues, which leads to giving voices to nature and women, the environmentally humiliated and misrecognized.

1993

Feminism and the Mastery of Nature draws on the feminist critique of reason to argue that the master form of rationality of western culture has been systematically unable to acknowledge dependency on nature, the sphere of those it has defined as 'inferior' others. Because its knowledge of the world is sytematically distorted by the elite domination which has shaped it, the master rationality has developed 'blind spots' which may threaten our survival. The future depends increasingly on our ability to create a truly democratic and ecological culture beyond dualism.

The present paper is an attempt to focus on the main ideologies of Eco-criticism and Feminism and thereby analysing the various similarities. Eco-criticism and Techno criticism , Feminism and patriarchy are analysed in conjuction to binary opposites. The various divisions of ecology,the inter-dependence of man on nature and technology, food chain- food web as nature is considered to be the series of numerous cultural constructs which re-constructs the factor of the dominant and the suppressed. Feminism in its struggle for equality of rights and values against suppression carves an unique identity with other branches of criticism. The One-ness in the spheres of environment and Woman is analysed by the contradictory forces of the ‘one’ and the ‘other’

Abstract: The ‘technology and development ‘obsessed world today unleashes destruction, oppression and death. In its race towards globalization, men have come to view nature as a commodity and a source of profit, crushing and trampling the ecosystem. Men conquer, control and oppress – both nature and women. Women and nature are united through their shared history of oppression by a patriarchal Western Society. Dr Vandana Shiva, an Indian eco-feminist claims that women have a special connection to the environment through their daily interactions with it that has been ignored.1 She opines that women in subsistence economies who produce “wealth in partnership with nature have been experts in their own right of holistic and ecological knowledge of nature’s processes”. However she points out that “these alternative modes of knowing, which are oriented to social benefits and sustenance needs are not recognized by the capitalist reductionist paradigm, because it fails to perceive the interconnectedness of nature, or the connection of women’s lives, work and knowledge with the creation of wealth.2 This paper attempts to explore the significance of eco feminism as a world view towards creating a harmonious and violence- free world that not only celebrates the interconnectedness of all forms of life as inherently valuable but also seeks possibilities for empowerment of both women and environment

2020

Ecofeminism is an interdisciplinary critical theory which claims that environmental and women's issues are interconnected because of the objectification of women and nature in a male-dominant society. According to this theory, the system forms a male-centred hierarchy and dualities, creating inequality in society and providing the superiority for men. On the other hand, the hierarchy and dualities are used to exert pressure on non-male beings and marginalize them. Thus, in the male-dominant hierarchical order dualities such as male/female, culture/nature, human/nature, white/black, unconscious/unconscious, logic/emotion, soul/body occur, and former dominates the latter. That is, in this order, man is superior to woman, culture is superior to nature, and logic is to emotion. Also, since the man is considered superior to the woman, all the superior features are attributed to the male and the inferior features are associated with the female. In this way, while man symbolizes culture, consciousness, logic and spirit, woman represents nature, unconsciousness, emotion and body. In this case, women and nature become close to each other in a male-dominant society and are similarly conceptualized. The main factor causing this bond is the ability of both nature and women to reproduce and create. For example, while women bring humans into the world, nature ensures the continuity of life on earth with natural resources. Another factor is that both of them have a passive role in society and are dependent. Women are pushed to live a domestic life and become passive due to their fertility. Women who cannot achieve their economic freedom become dependent on men. On the other hand, nature is not an active being intrinsically. Since nature cannot move and speak, it has a position that is dependent on humans. The bond between woman and nature naturalizes the fertility of women and feminizes the fruitfulness of nature. For example, the fact that the woman is closer to nature ensures that her reproducibility is perceived as a natural condition, and motherhood is portrayed as the woman's most natural duty. Besides, it is natural for women to be domestic because of their biological structure. Thus, the fact that women cannot acquire social identity and depend on men is normalied, and women exist as objects in society. On the other hand, nature stands out in the male-centred system with its productivity and generosity, just like a mother. Nature serves the patriarchal system with its renewable resources. Thus, the system perceives nature as an object that provides abundance, infinite resources and power. As a result, both women and nature are objectified and exploited in the masculine-dominated society. The system puts forward women's closeness with nature to exclude them from society. This study sheds light on how the male-centred hierarchy and dualities crush non-male beings while glorifying men; explains why nature and women are perceived closer to each other. The study also shows that this link by marginalizing them conceptualizes women and nature closely. Then in the study, the hierarchy of men/women, culture/nature and human/nature is exemplified by mentioning the narrative of Adam and Eve, and in this narrative, oppressive attitude towards women and nature is revealed. As a result, the study provides a broad perspective on ecofeminist theory, which advocates that environmental and women's issues are interrelated as they are treated the same in the male-centred society.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EARLY CHILDHOOD SPECIAL EDUCATION, 2022

Environmental history is a subset of history that explores the way humans and the environment interact. The phenomena that influence history's mechanisms include technological, intellectual, cultural, and social transformations. These have a profound effect on the natural worl d as well. Environmental history's main field of study is this phenomenon. In the intellectual or philosophical movement known as ecofeminism, women played a significant role in preserving and protecting the environment. They contend that a capitalist econ omy and a patriarchal social structure are harmful to women and the environment. The paper examines how environmental movements, ecofeminism, and environmental history converge. In the 1970s and 1980s, environmental history became a separate subfield of hi story. However, environmental history has been treated and explored since the beginning of historical writing. The growth of environmental history has been influenced by both the capitalist economic system and the philosophical movement of Romanticism. Env ironmental historians have greatly benefited from the historical approaches to the writing of the Marxist and Annals movements. Considering women's exploitation and environmental degradation, ecofeminism is a philosophical analysis of the link between women and nature. As victims of the capitalist economic system and the patriarchal social structure, they investigate the interaction between women and the natural world. They believe that environmental destruction and the exploitation of women share an evolutionary lineage.

Zbornik Matice srpske za drustvene nauke, 2014

Women and nature are connected in many different ways: with their biological status, reproductive role, discrimination. That is why ecofeminism stands for one of the main theoretical, philosophical and even practical ways of resolving the environmental problems. The representatives of this thinking find that changing positions and behaviors by leaving the patriarchal approach to everything-to the women and to the nature, can stop the degradation of the environment. Demographic significance of the women's role, in context of environmental changes, was represented by some feminist movements, as Chipko movement in India, Green Belt movement in Kenya, Love Canal in State of New York, etc. In this paper, the author gives a short overview of connections between women and nature, and proposes some new solutions.

Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 2022

In times of devastating ecological crisis, where can we find a route map to collectively halt current trends of destruction? In this review, we exam- ine feminist studies’ recent contributions to activism and theorizing regard- ing extraction, emerging ecologies, and multispecies justice. By bringing in salient research from the fields of feminist political ecology, ecofeminism, and decolonial/anticolonial feminisms, we point to the ways in which femi- nist thought and action has opened up spaces for recognizing, envisioning, and making life-affirming ecologies rather than extractive systems of de- struction. We refer to the former as emergent and emancipatory ecologies, that is, ecologies always in the process of becoming and capable of defying and subverting oppression based on gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, caste, ability, species and other forms of discrimination—and, thus, capable of protecting and defending life and living worlds.