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Ecofeminism, Explained.

By
Ingrid Bååth
x

Why do we need ecofeminism?

Despite the fight that women (and allies) have fought for hundreds of years, misogyny is alive and well, even in the developed West. Even if the slope isn’t as steep as it used to be, women and girls are still facing an uphill battle for equality, from equal pay, to safety, body sovereignty, access to wealth and opportunity to succeed. The reality is that women face more barriers to influence in society, yet are disproportionally affected by disasters and crises. They hold less power but carry more burdens than men.

Many women are seen as commodities consciously or subconsciously, as objects for use instead of equally respected citizens. And it is in the patriarchy’s best interest to perpetuate the objectification of women. It makes it easier to exploit, abuse and use women for gain and profit. Just like we exploit the environment for profit and power, we exploit women and girls because neither is seen as intrinsically valuable in the eyes of the system we live in.

So, what is ecofeminism?

We understand that women and girls (even the ones living in the most equal of countries) face disadvantages to men in one form or another. More and more people are also coming to realise that there is an ecological emergency. But what does it mean to integrate feminism and environmentalism?

Social injustice and environmental destruction share a common foe: the current system. Ecofeminism merges principles from feminism and environmentalism to address the root causes of both the climate crisis and misogyny. Ecofeminism brings a more nuanced understanding of the exploitation of nature and people to the conversation. Instead of addressing the symptoms of discrimination towards women and exploitation of the planet as siloed issues, ecofeminism identifies these as interconnected symptoms of an unsustainable system and works to break down the patriarchal power structures underlying both problems.

Ecofeminism questions the patriarchal hierarchy we have placed upon our Western understanding of nature, bringing us closer to it in the process. When we want to exploit something we conceptualise it as ‘other’ — instead, when we view the world through an ecofeminist lens we are forced to reconcile the divide we have created between humans and nature. By rediscovering the interconnection and interdependency of all things without a hierarchal structure, we become capable of seeing the intrinsic value in the existence of all beings instead of seeing each thing as a means to an end for our personal gain. This makes it harder to destroy or abuse what we once saw as ‘less than’ or ‘other’, because it no longer is a lifeless object in our eyes but a being with feelings, purpose and equal right to life.

If we apply ecofeminism to the climate crisis, we also uncover a chain of abuse and exploitation towards people in our unsustainable actions. We only have to look as far as the fast fashion industry to find an example of this. The majority of fast fashion retail is targeted towards women but the majority of profits go to men. Not only does the industry exploit and abuse women who work in factories with limited workers rights but also manipulates women into paying for the human rights violations happening to these workers. The only one who profits are the large fast fashion retail corporations (who are most often than not owned by men). This way, women take on the burden and responsibility of labour workers as consumers of a product, instead of the corporations and men behind the production. It’s a loose loose situation for women.

Women also feel the climate crisis more severely and immediately than men. Women have less economic freedom and often more burdens, like caring for children, and are therefore less able to relocate if climate change impact their lives. Though women feel the consequences of a dying planet more than men, they don’t contribute to the problem as much. As men have unequal access to wealth, they are also responsible for how they acquire that wealth and how they manage it. And as wealth often doesn’t come from being a climate advocate, a lot of men who have access to wealth are sacrificing the planet in one way or another. After all, there is no ability to grow unlimited with limited resources.

Can we end the climate crisis with ecofeminism?

So what can we do about it? First we have to ensure our ecofeminist solutions extend to all women and femme presenting people. With the rise of feminism also came the rise of selective feminism. Prioritising the rights for some women at the expense of others (most often women of colour). Ecofeminism, although does not take away from white women, also considers the layers of privilege and understand that women of colour face multiple societal and environmental barriers. Like the example above, it is often women of colour that are being abused at the hands of an oppressive and exploitative system but also the ones who will feel the effects of climate change more severely than their white counterparts.

Empowering women to become leaders, uplifting women of colour, ensuring equal access to education and reproductive rights is an important part of ecofeminism. But an equally as important part is to ensure everyone in society is working towards an equal and just future. Teaching men, boys and masculine presenting people about the inequalities that exists and ensuring equal responsibility to solve them will help to create a just and liveable future where no one is at risk because of climate change.

The important thing is to consider how women and girls are disproportionally affected by climate change and how we have created a structure of exploitation and abuse to inform cultural rigidity and an unwillingness to change. What we do once we uncover the sexist structure of society and climate change is what will define if we successfully make it out of this crisis.

Ecofeminism, Explained.

By
Ingrid Bååth
x

Why do we need ecofeminism?

Despite the fight that women (and allies) have fought for hundreds of years, misogyny is alive and well, even in the developed West. Even if the slope isn’t as steep as it used to be, women and girls are still facing an uphill battle for equality, from equal pay, to safety, body sovereignty, access to wealth and opportunity to succeed. The reality is that women face more barriers to influence in society, yet are disproportionally affected by disasters and crises. They hold less power but carry more burdens than men.

Many women are seen as commodities consciously or subconsciously, as objects for use instead of equally respected citizens. And it is in the patriarchy’s best interest to perpetuate the objectification of women. It makes it easier to exploit, abuse and use women for gain and profit. Just like we exploit the environment for profit and power, we exploit women and girls because neither is seen as intrinsically valuable in the eyes of the system we live in.

So, what is ecofeminism?

We understand that women and girls (even the ones living in the most equal of countries) face disadvantages to men in one form or another. More and more people are also coming to realise that there is an ecological emergency. But what does it mean to integrate feminism and environmentalism?

Social injustice and environmental destruction share a common foe: the current system. Ecofeminism merges principles from feminism and environmentalism to address the root causes of both the climate crisis and misogyny. Ecofeminism brings a more nuanced understanding of the exploitation of nature and people to the conversation. Instead of addressing the symptoms of discrimination towards women and exploitation of the planet as siloed issues, ecofeminism identifies these as interconnected symptoms of an unsustainable system and works to break down the patriarchal power structures underlying both problems.

Ecofeminism questions the patriarchal hierarchy we have placed upon our Western understanding of nature, bringing us closer to it in the process. When we want to exploit something we conceptualise it as ‘other’ — instead, when we view the world through an ecofeminist lens we are forced to reconcile the divide we have created between humans and nature. By rediscovering the interconnection and interdependency of all things without a hierarchal structure, we become capable of seeing the intrinsic value in the existence of all beings instead of seeing each thing as a means to an end for our personal gain. This makes it harder to destroy or abuse what we once saw as ‘less than’ or ‘other’, because it no longer is a lifeless object in our eyes but a being with feelings, purpose and equal right to life.

If we apply ecofeminism to the climate crisis, we also uncover a chain of abuse and exploitation towards people in our unsustainable actions. We only have to look as far as the fast fashion industry to find an example of this. The majority of fast fashion retail is targeted towards women but the majority of profits go to men. Not only does the industry exploit and abuse women who work in factories with limited workers rights but also manipulates women into paying for the human rights violations happening to these workers. The only one who profits are the large fast fashion retail corporations (who are most often than not owned by men). This way, women take on the burden and responsibility of labour workers as consumers of a product, instead of the corporations and men behind the production. It’s a loose loose situation for women.

Women also feel the climate crisis more severely and immediately than men. Women have less economic freedom and often more burdens, like caring for children, and are therefore less able to relocate if climate change impact their lives. Though women feel the consequences of a dying planet more than men, they don’t contribute to the problem as much. As men have unequal access to wealth, they are also responsible for how they acquire that wealth and how they manage it. And as wealth often doesn’t come from being a climate advocate, a lot of men who have access to wealth are sacrificing the planet in one way or another. After all, there is no ability to grow unlimited with limited resources.

Can we end the climate crisis with ecofeminism?

So what can we do about it? First we have to ensure our ecofeminist solutions extend to all women and femme presenting people. With the rise of feminism also came the rise of selective feminism. Prioritising the rights for some women at the expense of others (most often women of colour). Ecofeminism, although does not take away from white women, also considers the layers of privilege and understand that women of colour face multiple societal and environmental barriers. Like the example above, it is often women of colour that are being abused at the hands of an oppressive and exploitative system but also the ones who will feel the effects of climate change more severely than their white counterparts.

Empowering women to become leaders, uplifting women of colour, ensuring equal access to education and reproductive rights is an important part of ecofeminism. But an equally as important part is to ensure everyone in society is working towards an equal and just future. Teaching men, boys and masculine presenting people about the inequalities that exists and ensuring equal responsibility to solve them will help to create a just and liveable future where no one is at risk because of climate change.

The important thing is to consider how women and girls are disproportionally affected by climate change and how we have created a structure of exploitation and abuse to inform cultural rigidity and an unwillingness to change. What we do once we uncover the sexist structure of society and climate change is what will define if we successfully make it out of this crisis.

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