Humanities Courses/BioethicsCourse
- AuthorAnn Santori
Ann is an experienced librarian, early literacy specialist, and educator with a master's degree in library sciences and bachelor's degree in English Literature and Political Science. She teaches as an adjunct professor at the graduate school level and tutors with remote learning companies as well as doing freelance tutoring and literacy consulting.
View bio - InstructorSunday Moulton
Sunday earned a PhD in Anthropology and has taught college courses in Anthropology, English, and high school ACT/SAT Prep.
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Read about ecological feminism. Learn what an ecofeminist is, explore the origin, principles, and branches of ecofeminism, review its criticisms and find examples.Updated: 11/21/2023
Table of Contents
- What is Ecological Feminism?
- Origin of Ecofeminism
- Principles of Ecological Feminism
- Branches of Ecological Feminism
- Criticisms of Ecofeminists
- Ecofeminism Examples
- Lesson Summary
Frequently Asked Questions
What are examples of ecofeminism?
There are many examples of ecofeminist activist work throughout the world. An example from Kenya is Wangari Maathai's Greenbelt Movement.
How is ecofeminism different from feminism?
Ecofeminism is a branch of the larger feminist movement and shares some of the same basic beliefs. Ecofeminism differs, however, in its focus on the connection between women and the natural world and how that connection manifests in a patriarchal society's treatment of the two.
What is the description of an ecofeminist?
Ecofeminists are feminists who believe there is a parallel between societal mistreatment of the environment and its oppression of women. French feminist thinker Francoise d'Eaubonne first used the term "ecofeminism" in 1974.
Table of Contents
- What is Ecological Feminism?
- Origin of Ecofeminism
- Principles of Ecological Feminism
- Branches of Ecological Feminism
- Criticisms of Ecofeminists
- Ecofeminism Examples
- Lesson Summary
Ecological feminism, or ecofeminism, is a sub-branch of the feminist movement that emerged in the 1970s when combined with the environmentalist ideology. French feminist thinker Francoise d'Eaubonne first used the term "ecofeminism" in 1974. Ecofeminism draws a parallel between the societal treatment of the environment and their attitude toward women. Ecofeminism asserts that a patriarchal society will continue to abuse and exploit natural resources because of its inherent attitudes of entitlement, hierarchal, and binary thinking. The lesson will further explore what an ecofeminist is.
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What is an Ecofeminist?
Ecofeminism as a movement would not exist without the ecofeminists that are doing the work of writing, speaking, organizing, and activism. Some examples of famous
- Vandana Shiva, a famous Indian ecofeminist and the co-author of the 1993 book Ecofeminism
- Shiva's work revolves around advocating for women's basic subsistence needs (clothing, food, and shelter) and larger feminist ideals like equality and liberation. Shiva's non-Western perspective is an example of intersectional feminism — that examines how systems of oppression, like race, class, and gender, overlap to produce unique experiences of womanhood.
- Starhawk, a US activist and author
- Starhawk is known for her anti-nuclear and anti-military ecofeminism. Her famous 1981 "Don Diablo Canyon blockade" successfully prevented the opening of a nuclear power station.
- Ruth Nyambura, a Kenyan activist and scholar
- As a member of the African EcoFeminist Collective, Nyambura focuses her work on the food policies of Kenya (as well as the surrounding countries) and critiques capitalist interests for harming the natural biodiversity of the area.
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The ecofeminist movement began in academic circles in the 1970s. These academic women noticed the overlap between feminism and environmentalism and met to discuss ways in which to combine the two movements. This was certainly not the first time that women were working in activist movements to protest against environmental injustice. However, the philosophical exploration of how these movements connected can be traced to this period. In 1974, Feminism or Death, French feminist Francoise d'Eaubonne first coined the term "ecofeminism." Until later in the 1980s, ecofeminism remained the purview of academics, but the concept became more mainstream in 1987 with the publication of Ynestra King's article "What Is Ecofeminism?". In this article, King urged everyday people to interrogate how their attitudes toward the environment also influenced how they viewed women in society.
Ecofeminism vs. Feminism
Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism, much like Marxist feminism. Since it exists within this larger feminist movement, ecofeminism shares the main tenets of feminism, including gender equality, challenging patriarchy, and collaboration versus hierarchy. However, while many modern feminists believe in working to install more women in positions of power, ecofeminism, especially radical ecofeminism, rejects the current power structures and does not have any interest in working within existing systems. Modern, intersectional ecofeminism examines the oppression of women and other groups of persons with marginalized identities (those that are oppressed based on their ethnicity/race, sexuality, economic status, etc.). It connects their mistreatment to the same system that harms the environment.
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Ecofeminism explores and questions the binaries at the heart of Western culture. In an androcentric society, where maleness is privileged, the halves of these binaries that are most associated with masculinity are seen as the ideal. The binary most critiqued by ecofeminism is that of nature vs. civilization — civilization represents order, and the natural world represents chaos. The masculine half of this binary (civilization) feels a paternalistic responsibility to "tame" the female side of this binary (nature) and often does so through violent means. Furthermore, because women and nature have historically and linguistically been connected (through terms like "Mother Nature" and "fertile soil"), they are also viewed as irrational, chaotic forces that need controlling.
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During the 1980s, two primary branches of ecological feminism emerged: radical ecofeminism and cultural ecofeminism. These branches have opposing viewpoints on women's connection to nature. As academic Leigh Brammer puts it, "some ecofeminists view the link between woman and nature as empowering, others believe it's imposed by patriarchy and is degrading." The latter belief belongs to the radical ecofeminists, and the former to the cultural ecofeminists.
Radical Ecofeminism
Radical ecofeminism takes the perspective that the environment is being exploited and misused in the same way as women are in a patriarchal society. According to radical ecofeminists, women are seen as objects, much like the natural resources of the planet are, and therefore they are likewise taken advantage of. Some ecofeminists also expand this perspective to animal welfare and point out the parallels in how these same patriarchal power structures exploit animals. Radical ecofeminists also discuss how both the natural world and women have been misrepresented by society as "chaotic" and "needing to be tamed" by male-dominated power structures.
Cultural Ecofeminism
Cultural ecofeminists celebrate the connection between women and nature, believing they fundamentally have a deeper relationship with the natural world both because of socially-prescribed gender roles (woman as the family caregiver, for example) and biological aspects (women's ability to carry life). According to cultural ecofeminists, this connection between women and the environment puts women in a position to be more attuned to the needs and health of the natural world. Cultural ecofeminists also often incorporate spiritual elements into their ideology, such as Goddess worship. Gaea, the mother goddess from Greek mythology, is many times the focus of this spirituality in Western ecofeminism, but many cultures throughout the world have their own earth goddesses and mother figure deities.
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Ecofeminism as an ideology has been criticized for its oversimplification in laying the blame for environmental destruction and female oppression on androcentrism while ignoring other factors, like class and race. Androcentrism is the patriarchal perspective that places primary importance on men's interests and perspectives. Some critics also believe that this concept, as well as ecofeminism as a whole, relies too heavily on gender essentialism and gender stereotyping. For example, the cultural ecofeminist belief that women are more connected to nature because of their ability to menstruate, carry a pregnancy, etc., can be seen as devaluing the experience of transwomen and non-binary individuals. Other critics have noted a prevailing experience of heterosexual women in the ecofeminist movement has led to "queer" ecofeminism by taking a deeper look into how hom*ophobia and androcentrism interact.
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The activism of ecofeminists has a major impact on the quality of life for women across the globe. Some well-known examples of ecofeminism include:
- The Green Belt Movement in Kenya: Spearheaded by Wangari Maathai in 1977, this movement was a response to the decreasing food and water supplies for women in rural parts of Kenya.
- The Chipko Andolan movement in India: Indigenous women led this movement to conserve forests in India in the 1970s during a period of deforestation caused by commercial logging.
- The Akwesasne Mother's Milk Project in the United States and Canada: Led by an elder of the Mohawk Nation, Katsi Cook, this 1981 project monitored and documented the levels of toxic industrial pollution in the St. Lawrence River (bordering the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation) and how the pollutants infiltrated mothers' breast milk.
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A term first used by Francoise D'Eaubonne in the 1970s, ecofeminism is the merging of the environmentalism and feminism movements. Ecofeminism asserts that at the root of both women's oppression and environmental degradation is androcentrism: the patriarchal perspective that places primary importance on men's interests, desires, and needs. Often this is through the creation of binaries, like rational vs. emotional. In binaries such as this one, where men are described as rational and women are described as emotional, the masculine half of it is held up as the ideal, and the "other" as lesser.
Since women are devalued in an androcentric society, and they have been conceptually and linguistically linked to nature in Western culture, nature itself is also devalued. A binary dualism of order vs. chaos, in which human society represents order and the natural world represents chaos, likewise privileges society, allowing for violence to be committed against the natural world under the guise of "taming the wild." Ecofeminism works to dismantle these binaries and heal their harmful effects.
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Additional Info
The term ''ecofeminism'' may at first seem strange and raise questions about how each part of the term connects. You know ''eco'' refers to the environment and ecology. You're also likely familiar with feminism, at least as far as it refers to women's issues and equality. However what do they mean combined?.
To understand the concept, we must first understand that ecofeminism is part of a philosophical discipline called environmental ethics, which explores the morality of how we interact with and think about the environment and nature. Within this discipline, ecofeminism explores how the domination of nature and the domination of women may stem from the same sources and ways of conceptualizing the world.
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Origins of Ecofeminism
First used by Francoise D'Eaubonne, the term ecofeminism describes a growing interconnection between the different feminist movements and ecology or environmental movements born in the 1970s. It also spawned a plethora of individual perspectives, each focusing on different issues within the discipline and producing a number of theoretical explanations for the shared concerns in both fields. However, at its core, it believes the dominant cultural views (mainly Western cultural views) create an atmosphere where women and nature are devalued. This conceptual devaluation allows contemporary society to dictate how women and nature are treated and used for the benefit or desire of the dominant culture.
Feminizing Nature
In ecofeminism, one connection between women and nature is the linguistic link of how we discuss each of them. Regarding nature, we speak of Mother Nature and Mother Earth. We talk of 'fertile' and 'barren' land, virgin forests, or even the raping of the environment.
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Dualism
Ecofeminists also focus on the way Western culture creates binary concepts and assigns them. Masculine and feminine characteristics are divided along lines of rational/emotional, logical/creative, stronger/weaker, controlled/wild, and more. Likewise, human society and culture are divided from nature along similar lines. These binary categories create a dominance for the first concept over the second, ascribing masculinity and society with the more desirable terms.
Issues Within Ecofeminism
With the variety of ecofeminist perspectives comes disagreement and debates about both the scope of the problem and the means to solve it.
Degrees of Androcentrism
One issue is the degree of androcentrism, the perspective that puts the interests of men ahead of others while viewing the world from the male perspective. A large debate within ecofeminism is how much of the problem to ascribe to the male perspective of women and nature. At one extreme, some claim it is the inherent male view that directly causes the degradation of women and nature. To solve this, they call for a drastic change of perspective, either by empowering women over men or by reeducating men to eliminate this view. Others, ascribing less responsibility to men, place the problem within frameworks of domination which include racism and classism. Sexism and the exploitation of nature, to this view, thus become just more examples of a dominance issue to be addressed.
Connecting Women and Nature
Another concern is how to address the conceptual link between women and nature. On one hand, some ecofeminists celebrate the connection, deepening the link through practicing a variety of nature religions. Other ecofeminists urge separating the link between women and nature (at least linguistically) in order to re-conceptualize both in terms of equality with the male perspective and the dominant culture.
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Solutions
The last debate we will discuss is how different ecofeminists propose to solve the problems in environmentalism. Some view strict control of conservation efforts, separating human spaces and natural spaces, and scientific approaches as reinforcing traditional binaries. This strict control can evoke feelings of domination, while the scientific perspective is often heralded as rationality overcoming emotionality. While many ecofeminists still support these solutions, others reject them. Those opposing such solutions encourage a more extreme change where nature and society coexist in the same spaces, with humans subjugating their will below the needs of nature.
Lesson Summary
There are many separate traditions within the field of environmental ethics, a philosophical discipline concerned with how we interact with and think about the environment. One of them, ecofeminism, emerged during the 1970s at the intersection of the environmental and feminist movements. This perspective connects the domination and exploitation of women with the domination and exploitation of nature in several ways, including the words we use when discussing them and the conceptual binaries we create between male and female or society and nature.
Ecofeminists, however, debate on the sources and solutions to the domination of women and nature. Some specifically blame the androcentric, male-based, perspective, while others see the issues nested within multiple forms of domination. Another issue is whether to deepen the conceptual connections between women and nature, such as by practicing nature magic and religion, or to encourage separating the concepts. Finally, there is debate about taking a strict and scientific approach to solving environmental problems or instead encouraging humans and nature to coexist in the same spaces with humans elevating the needs of nature above their own.
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