#EcoFeminism

brought to you by: Hannah, Savannah, Sophia, Nicole, & Izzy

SO WHAT’S THE

?
PRIOR to this class,
what were your
perceptions about
EcoFeminism?
Are you an Ecofeminist? Why or Why
not?
 Pioneers of U.S.
Ecofeminism and
Environmental
Justice
Susan A. Mann
 What is Ecofeminism?
•“the diverse range of women’s efforts to save the Earth, as well as the
transformations in feminist thought that have resulted in new
conceptualizations of the relationship between women and nature.”

- Environmentalism gained popularity in

the US toward the end of the 19th century
in response to deteriorating conditions in
overcrowded, disease ridden and polluted
urban areas.
 What is Ecofeminism?
- The second industrialization greatly impacted
gender roles, as many homemade things could now be
bought.
- Women had more free time, turned to environmental
activism.
- New discussions emerged on the roles of men and
women, leading to the “Doctrine of Separate
Spheres” which stated that:
- women’s sphere was the “private realm of the household”
- Men’s was the public realm.
- This created social pressures and restrictions on
women’s activities:
- Had to defend their activism in relation to their
household roles of mother and wife. They said they were
trying to get clean water, food and air for their
families, and protecting nature to make their lives
more beautiful.
- Became known as the municipal housekeeping movement.
 Ellen Swallow Richards
- Her research on
- Founder of popular foods led
to the first food
the municipal inspection laws
housekeeping in the US.
movement. - She also created
the discipline of
- Known as the “oekology,”
mother of better known
ecofeminism. today as home
economics.
 Environmental racism
● The US environmental justice movement emerged in the 1980’s but
environmental racism has a much longer history.
● Class and especially race are major factors in the distribution of
environmental hazards among public and residential areas. The costs and
burdens of this fall overwhelmingly on the shoulders of racial minorities.
- Despite this, minorities are often blamed as the causes of these
environmental problems, seen as vectors of disease.
● Marginalized groups are subjected to management through segregation,
discrimination and even eradicated in the interest of “maintaining safer
environments for the white body politic.”
 THe Hull House Women
● Mary McDowell
○ “grandmother of the environmental justice movement in Chicago.”
○ sanitation engineer, wanted to improve waste-disposal methods.
○ Called the “Garbage Lady.”
○ Praised for her work cleaning a section of the Chicago River that was literally
bubbling with pollution.
● Jane Addams
○ First female Municipal Sanitary Inspector.
○ Led her Hull House Women’s Club in investigations of the city garbage
collection, providing valuable data on hazards of the process.
 Black Women’s Clubs
● African Americans moved north to escape the Jim Crow laws, contributed
to urban overcrowding
● Black Women’s clubs formed to speak out about environmental issues
caused by this
● Ida Wells-Barnett: helped organize first black women’s club
● Three largest federations formed from these clubs unified themselves
with National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC)
● No access to the patronage the White Women’s Clubs were privy to, less
recognized
● Focused on neighborhood clean-up campaigns, and reducing filth
diseases that arose from unsafe air and water
 Atlanta Neighborhood Union
● Established by Lugenia Hope
● Made a nursery, kindergarten and medical center to treat tuberculosis
and other filth diseases.
● Addressed issues of contaminated water, inadequate sewage, and
garbage removal

● Overall, had more serious problems than their white

counterparts
 Conservation And preservation
● Focused on how modernization ruined wildlife and wilderness
● Early movements led by men because wilderness adventures heightened
their masculinity
● Woman active as well, but had to relate work to either homes or
children’s education so it was viewed as ‘proper’
● Cultural capital: knowledge of birds and plants, specifically to home
gardens, heightened cultural sophistication
● Early organizations: Audubon Society. Played big role in recruiting
members for wildlife conservation movement
White Women’s Clubs and Conservation
● Conserved many natural landscapes such as: United State’s forests,
redwood trees, appalachian watersheds, palisades of the hudson, and
niagara falls
● Majority of them did not challenge gender roles, but shared ecofeminist
ideas of the earth being a living reality, not a passive object.
 Pioneers of Ecofeminism
● Major voice in landscape conservationist work: Mary Austin
● Studied Native American life and was a defender of indigenous people’s
rights
● Wrote “The Land of Little Rain”, a critique of the arrogant development
of arid landscapes
 Noble Savage
● Term introduced by James Fenimore Cooper’s “Leather Stocking Tales”
● Meaning: a human unencumbered by civilization who lives in harmony
with nature and demonstrates both great moral courage and wisdom
derived from life experiences
● Maria Miles, Vandana Shiva, and Ariel Salleh wrote indigenous people as
having their livelihoods and culture intertwined with conserving and
replenishing nature
● Ecofeminists disliked this term because places Indigenous People as
‘outside of culture’
 Native Americans
● Pre-contact with white people, Native American women had higher
status, but US Government encouraged men to take over agricultural
production and women to submit to their authority.
● George Catlin envisioned national parks as a means to save Native
Americans and the wilderness
● But they were just expelled off the lands to make room
● Similarly, African American homes were destroyed to make room for
Central Park
● In saving the wilderness, sacrificed the people society deemed ‘less’
 Gender and
the
Environment
Mary Mellor
The Gender Dimension of Environmental Issues
Men and Women stand in a different Men and Women respond differently to
relationship to their environments. environmental issues.

*Environment as a gendered issue *Women are more responsive to nature

AND therefore also to environmental
*Men and women have different life issues
experiences, so they have different
environmental experiences
 The Claim: Women are more Responsive to
Environment
Two arguments on this front, the first is...

The existence of a socially constructed connection.

*Social ecofeminists argue that women, in a

gendered society, have a historically contingent

relationship with nature

*Leads to a hierarchical duality that men/masculinity is prized over women/femininity and that human
society is seen as superior to nature

*In this way, “Women and nature are thrown into a contingent relationship as the despised and rejected
by-products (or precursors) of modernity.”
The Claim: Women are more Responsive to
Environment
The second argument is…

Women have an innate affinity for the natural world

because of their biological difference.

*Problematic because muddies the boundary

between gender and sex, which could undermine
the work of feminist movements

*But is it true? Let’s look at an example.

Are Women More Responsive to their environments?
“Ecofeminists argue that the
reconnection of women with nature is
necessary because the gendered nature
of human society is directly related
to the current pattern of ecological
consequences.”

Justification for risk of

feminist ideology in the face of
ecological destruction.

No longer necessary to “save”

women from the relationship
Lois Gibbs, Love Canal between their bodies and nature.
But...Which came first?
Men are in charge of a lot of the
environmental decision-making processes,
and most of the people affected by those
decisions are women.

“Are women excluded from decision making and

put at the mercy of environmental forces as women
or because they are represented among the poor,
the exploited, and the colonized?”
The Nature of Duality Masculine prioritized over
feminine
Ecological destructiveness of the
Western socioeconomic system. Human society prized over nature

This leads to the

devaluation of women’s
work, as well as the “price
= value” misconception that
results in the gross misuse
of Earth’s resources.
Dualistic, but not exclusive
Still, there is NOT an unbridgeable gap between men and women or between us
and the environment.

Many ecofeminists merely see a biological connection between women and

the earth that men do not have. HOWEVER, just because women are biologically
connected to the earth does not mean that men are not biologically
connected.

It is patriarchy, and not men per se that are the enemy of

nature.

Dualistic structures challenge man’s ability to be close to the earth.

So, what do ecofeminists believe?
Gender analysis is essential if
ecological problems are to
addressed.
*Can be extended to race and class as well.
Current News - the village of Piplantri in
India has planted 111 trees
Village Plants Trees for Every Girl each for every baby girl
Born
- over a quarter million trees
of various species

- Aloe Vera is planted around

the trees to protect them
from termites and disease
“We make these parents sign an affidavit promising that they would not
marry her off before the legal age, send her to school regularly and take care
of the trees planted in her name.”

“Gradually, we realized that aloe vera could be

processed and marketed in a variety of ways. So we
invited some experts and asked them to train our
women. Now residents make and market aloevera
products like juice, gel, pickle etc.”

Mr. Paliwal
 Media
Challenge
#EcoFeminism
What’s hot rn?