Eco Feminism? Pt. II

One of the biggest concerns for an eco feminist should be those of the women who are not as fortunate or as privlleged as one is here in America, or even like myself, or even like you (the person reading this right now! You!). And to make the term “ecofeminism” more true to its name, I am here to tell you that the environment plays a huge part in this too. More specifically, women in the Global South (aka Africa) are affected by environmental degradation. More specifically, the scarcity of water – not to mention clean water… 

 

This poses an issue for women specifically for three main reasons:

 

1. In low income countries, women / girls are responsible for getting water for the household. This is described as a very time consuming, and tedious process. 
2. Women / girls are a lot more vulnerable to attackers or abusers on their way to a public toilet site.
3. Menstruation. Pregnancy. Childbirth. These are all things that require adequate amounts of clean water. Obviously. 

 

 Can you imagine being attacked on your way to the bathroom? Can you imagine not having enough (CLEAN) water to drink, or to keep clean and safe with? Not only is this an ecofeminist issue, this is a human rights issue. And quite frankly, a crisis. As eco feminists we need to do more to ensure our fellow women, our fellow human beings are taken care of no matter where they are in the world. There is absolutely no picking and choosing when it comes to equality and intersectional feminism. 

 

One thing that immediately struck my attention that is the same for both Western and non-Western views of ecofeminism is this idea of ‘dominion over nature, therefore dominion over women.’ (this is something that is also referred to by Warren and Hobgood-Oster). I believe that women, yes are connected with nature. And until we stop degrading nature and disrespecting the environment, women will continue to be disrespected and degraded as well. However, Agarwal argues on the account of this woman / nature ideology that “such a formulation flies in the face of wide-ranging evidence that concepts of nature, culture, gender, and so on, are historically and socially constructed and vary across and within cultures and time periods” (Agarwal 123). It seems that Agarwal is trying to say here that there is evidence proving that women are not the only ones who have been compared to nature, and that this can vary through different time periods and cultures. 

 

I feel as though Warren’s perspective is more interesting to me because I strongly agree that women are seen as integrated with nature and are expected to behave a certain way that pertains to the adjectives used to describe “mother” nature such as soft, beautiful, or gentle. I think that so many times, women are thought to be like “mother nature” and be nurturing by going through the process (of what can be painful, traumatic, and often dangerous) of pregnancy and childbirth, breast feeding, and staying home to take care of the children. And if a woman decides not to do this, she is shamed and called selfish and is apparently not ‘doing her duty as a woman.’ The truth is that women are supposed to be much more than mothers. We are mothers to OURSELVES first and we should never feel bad for doing whatever the heck we want – and if this means having kids and staying home, great; if this means not having kids and focusing on ourselves and our relationships, great. That is why I so strongly identify with Warren’s view of Ecofeminism!

 

Works Cited

 

UN-Water. “Gender: UN-Water.” UN, www.unwater.org/water-facts/gender/.

 

Agarwal, Bina. “The Gender and Environment Debate: Lessons from India.” Feminist Studies, vol. 18, no. 1, 1992, p. 119., doi:10.2307/3178217.