Ecofeminism

 

            ECOFEMINISM

 

Ecofeminism, is a term coined by French feminist Françoise d'Eaubonne in 1974. It is a branch of ecocriticism and feminism that examines the connections between women and nature. This philosophy examines the ways both nature and women are treated by patriarchal society. Ecofeminists cross-examine the effect of gender categories - the masculine; as objective, rational, and mind, and the feminine; as subjective, emotional and body - in order to demonstrate the ways in which man is equated with culture and woman with nature. For instance, the expression “mother nature” indicates the naturalization of woman and the feminization of nature, and illustrates how men dominate nature and women as if they are essentially exploitable objects.

Ecofeminism can be classified into two: radical ecofeminism and cultural ecofeminism.

Radical Ecofeminism

One of its assumptions is that the dominant patriarchal society equates nature and women in order to degrade both. In fact, in its emergence, ecofeminism tends to be radical by revealing practices of patriarchal domination of both. The radical feminists target the historical and cultural backgrounds that equate the feminine and nature with negative or commodifiable attributes while men have been elevated as capable of establishing order. Such a socio-economic structuring easily facilitates the exploitation of women and nature, for cheap labour and resources.

Cultural Ecofeminism

It promotes an association between women and the environment by focusing on the more intimate and organic relationship between them. As per the anthropologically assigned gender roles, women are nurturers of family and providers of food. By their biology, they are part of the reproductive mechanism of nature, in the form of menstruation, pregnancy and lactation. Often due to such associative bonds, women are more sensitive to the sacredness and degradation of the environment. In return, there emerges a more direct connection between the natural world and human beings. Cultural ecofeminism also has roots in nature-based religions, goddess, and nature worship, as a way of redeeming both the spirituality of nature and women's instrumental role in that spirituality. The spirituality and cultural myths of the Native American, Australian and African tribal populace underscore this mutual bonding between women and nature. For example, many of the indigenous traditions are built on a mother goddess who creates, instead of the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent father God.

Some of the new branches of ecofeminism are vegetarian ecofeminism, materialist ecofeminism and spiritualist ecofeminism.

Vegetarian Ecofeminism: It says that all types of oppression are linked and need to be eradicated. It believe that the way in which we treat animals mainly in the way humans exploit and kill, needs to be recognized and addressed.

Materialist Ecofeminism: It connects institutions such as labour, power and property as the source of domination over women and nature. This philosophy stresses that the sphere of production (men and factory) is dependent on the production of reproduction (women and family).

Spiritualist Ecofeminism: In it a turn to myth and theology  is advocated against materialism because of the importance given to women, nature and all forms of life.