BIBLIOGRAPHY
This bibliography is limited to selected recent
resources. Annotations are taken from book jackets and article
abstracts. Please refer to book reviews for commentary on a book's
substance.
Issues and Concepts: Books and Chapters
Bandarage, Asoka, 1997
Women, Population and Global Crisis: A Political-Economic
Analysis. London and New Jersey: Zed Books.
It has been widely assumed that overpopulation is one of the
root causes of global crisis. Even among feminist and environmental
movements, the common wisdom on population has never been seriously
critiqued. This book provides a historical overview of the population
question and places the population-poverty-environment-security
debate within a broad theoretical perspective.
Becker, Mary, Cynthia Grant Bowman, and Morrison Torrey, 2001
"Women and the State: Global Feminism and Equality." In Cases and Materials on Feminist Jurisprudence: Taking Women Seriously. St. Paul, MN: West Group.
Bennett, Vivienne, 1995
Politics of Water: Urban Protest, Gender, and Power in Monterrey,
Mexico. Pittsburgh, PA-: University of Pittsburgh Press.
In the early 1980s, nearly a quarter of Monterrey's nearly three
million inhabitants had no running water in their homes, while
the region's heavy industries were major water consumers. Bennett
uses the water crisis of the 1980s as a lens through which to
reveal and question the processes of urban services planning in
Monterrey. Her study focuses on the water services themselves,
the response of poor women to the crisis, and the dynamics of
planning water services for the city.
Braidotti, Rosi, Ewa Charkiewicz, Sabine Hausler, and Saskia Wieringa, 1994
Women, the Environment and Sustainable Development: Towards
a Theoretical Synthesis. London: Zed Books.
There is a widespread perception that the development process
is in a state of multiple crises. While the notion of sustainable
development is supposed to address adequately its environmental
dimensions, there is still no agreed framework relating women
to this new perspective. This book is an attempt to present and
disentangle the various positions put forward by major actors
and to clarify the political and theoretical issues that are at
stake in the debates on women, the environment, and sustainable
development.
Breton, Mary Joy, 2000
Women Pioneers for the Environment. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
This book provides sketches of more than 40 women activists
in the Americas, Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, and Asia,
recounting the special ways in which each stepped out of her traditional
role and dedicated her life to saving the planet. Breton interweaves
her accounts with narratives on the ecological hazards that drove
these women to spearhead various environmental campaigns, examining
why and how they challenged, and often defeated, the power structures
of government and industry. Their efforts illuminate the crucial
role of women in the environmental movement and provide inspiration
for a new generation of activists.
Bruce, Morito, 2002
"Sustainable Development, Conservation and Sustainability." In Thinking Ecologically: Environmental Thought, Values, and Policy. Halifax, NS: Fernwood Publishing.
Buckingham-Hatfield, Susan, 2000
"The Making of Science: It's a Man's World." In Gender and Environment. New York: Routledge.
Dankelman, Irene and Joan Davidson, 1988
Women and the Environment in the Third World: Alliance for
the Future. London: Earthscan.
Third World women play the major role in managing natural resources.
They are also the first and hardest hit by environmental mismanagement,
yet they are neither consulted nor taken into account by development
strategists. With the help of well-documented case studies, this
book describes ways in which women can organize to meet environmental,
social, and economic challenges by providing a clear account of
the problems faced by women in the management of land, water,
forests, energy, and human settlements. It also describes the lack
of response from international organizations.
Diamond, Irene, 1997
Fertile Ground: Women, Earth, and the Limits of Control. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Diamond parallels the abuse of nature and the abuse of women
to challenge ecological and feminist assumptions about population
control and fertility. She proposes that Western feminism has
developed within the masculinist ideology of power, including
control of nature and the earth. Thus, much of the discourse of
women's liberation reinforces the will toward technological mastery
by emphasizing ownership of bodies and control of fertility. Diamond
demonstrates the need for diversity, both ecologically and culturally,
if we are to renew our relationship with the Earth, beginning
with respect for local and culturally specific connections to
the environment. Relying heavily on the work of Foucault, Diamond
develops the idea of the sexuated body as the basis of the western
focus on owning bodies. She advocates focusing on and celebrating
fertility of both women and the Earth, and challenging technology
that provides sex without consequences, reproduction without sex,
and food without sweat. Avoiding romantic calls to return to the
wilderness and arguments about women's inherent alliance with
nature, Diamond directs attention to the cyclical nature of life
and death, and provides a stepping stone for future ecofeminist
efforts.
Dietrich, Gabriele, 1992
Reflections on the Women's Movement in India: Religion, Ecology,
Development. New Delhi: Horizon India Books.
Drawing on experiences of slum-dwelling women in southern India,
and on 15 years of work in the women's rights movement and other
informal sector unions, this is a critical analysis of the impact
of India's new economic policy (NEP) on the everyday life and
survival of poor women, and on local welfare agencies. Rejecting
the hegemonic profit-accumulation development paradigm, an alternative
"life-centered production, or life and livelihood production"
system is proposed as more supportive of feminist concepts. Economic
globalization and the NEP threaten women's survival, since women
are co-opted by the joint efforts of the state, communal religious
forces, and development agencies into working with the current
system, lured by empowerment strategies. Dietrich argues that
poor women's cultural frameworks, shattered by the NEP's implementation
and the politicization of religion, can be saved only by an autonomous,
organizational, and cultural resource-laden people's movement
advocating a life-centered production paradigm.
Ferguson, Anne, 2005
"Water Reform, Gender, and HIV/AIDS: Perspectives from Malawi." In Globalization, Water and Health: Resources Management in Times of Scarcity, edited by Linda Whiteford and Scott Whiteford. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research.
Gaard, Greta and Patrick Murphy, Editors, 1998
Ecofeminist Literary Criticism: Theory, Interpretation, Pedagogy. Urbana and Chicago, IL: University of
Illinois Press.
Ecofeminist Literary Criticism is the first collection of its kind: a diverse anthology that explores both how ecofeminism can enrich literary criticism and how literary criticism can contribute to ecofeminist theory and activism. Ecofeminism is a practical movement for social change that discerns interconnections among all forms of oppression: the exploitation of nature, the oppression of women, class exploitation, racism, colonialism. Against binary divisions such as self/other, culture/nature, man/woman, humans/animals, and white/non-white, ecofeminist theory asserts that human identity is shaped by more fluid relationships and by an acknowledgment of both connection and difference. Once considered the province of philosophy and women's studies, ecofeminism in recent years has been incorporated into a broader spectrum of academic discourse. Ecofeminist Literary Criticism assembles some of the most insightful advocates of this perspective to illuminate ecofeminism as a valuable component of literary criticism.
Garcia-Guadilla, Maria Pilar, 1995
"Gender, Environment, and Empowerment in Venezuela."
In Engendering Wealth and Well-Being: Empowerment for Global Change, edited by R.L. Blumberg, C.A. Rakowski, I. Tinker, and M. Monteon. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, Inc.
The author asserts that ecological organizations in Venezuela
have a Westernized view of the environment; they stress the conservation
of rich and unique ecosystems, the creation of national parks,
the fight against pollution, and so forth. However, she also acknowledges
that women's environmental organizations and urban associations
approach environmental issues from a Third World perspective of
poverty, quality-of-life, and day-to-day domestic problems. In
this article, the author examines the four major women's environmental
organizations in Venezuela, their strategies - domestic and strategic - and degree of political success. She then discusses organizations
that vary by gender composition, ranging from women-only to mixed-gender
memberships with varying levels of active participation by women
and men, and their political and social impacts. Finally, the author
concludes the article by discussing the major factors contributing
to the success of women's environmental campaigns and the multifarious
ways in which women mobilize to effect environmental change.
Hanchett, Suzanne, Jesmin Akhter, and Kazi Rozana Akhter, 1998
"Gender and Society in Bangladesh's Flood Action Plan." In Water, Culture, and Power: Local Struggles in a Global Contest, edited by John M. Donahue and Barbara Rose Johnston. Washington, DC and Covelo, CA: Island Press.
This chapter discusses the integration of gender-related issues and other social constructions into a national-scale development program, Bangladesh's Flood Action Plan (FAP). The program, based on 30 different studies of flooding in Bangladesh, began in 1989 and ended in 1995. Every phase of the FAP, which was originally intended as an engineering and planning exercise, was marked by complex machinations of several economic, political, and social interest groups. In response to criticism, a Gender Study was added to one component of the FAP, the Flood Response Study, in 1991. The results of the Gender Study focused attention on the unrecognized role of women in agricultural production. Although the effects of the Gender Study on the FAP were mixed, it may serve to broaden the social perspective of future development programs.
Hanks, Sharon La Bonde, 1996
Ecology and the Biosphere: Principles and Problems. Boca Raton, FL: St. Lucie Press.
A valuable one-semester course text for non-science majors. It is concise, focused on material that will enable students to make intelligent choices about the future of the earth, and written in a style that will enable students to make connections to their own lives. Students want to know how science relates to their own lives, how the biosphere works, what is wrong with it, and what they can do to make a difference. This text provides the information students need and gives real-life examples that make the learning process more interesting and relevant.
Harcourt, Wendy, Editor, 1994
Feminist Perspectives on Sustainable Development. London:
Zed Books.
Contributions on resource management, power, knowledge production,
culture, development institutions and politics, health, and economics
show how gender relations are not simply a footnote to our understanding
of history and societies, but must be central to the development
discourse. In so doing, diversity itself is necessary to the creation
of new paradigms of development that are built upon gender equity,
secure livelihoods, ecological sustainability, and political participation.
Harrison, Elizabeth, 1997
"Fish, Feminists and the FAO: Translating 'Gender' Through Different Institutions in the Development Process." In Getting Institutions Right for Women in Development, edited by Anne Marie Goetz. New York: Zed Books.
hooks, bell, 2000 (second edition)
"Chapter 1. Black Women: Shaping Feminist Theory" and "Chapter 2. Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression." In Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.
Hynes, H. Patricia, 1989
"The Recurring Silent Spring." In Silent Spring: A Feminist
Reading. New York: Pergamon Press.
Preserving genetic diversity in a species-endangered world is
one part of the mythology which encases biotechnology development.
The other element of the mythology is that this "green-gene
revolution" will solve the growing world population's food
needs. This is, again, a technical band-aid offered for the profound
human tragedy of hunger and malnutrition. People dying from hunger
when surplus food stands in silos elsewhere is not a failure of
agricultural technology. This tragedy is caused by militarism,
which uses hunger as a weapon and siphons off countries' economic
resources for guns, tanks, and planes that should be used for
sustainable agriculture. It is caused by economic and agricultural
development which depletes and erodes soils rather than replenishing
and sustaining their fertility. It is caused by structures of
poverty which drive people in developing countries to live in
and wear out fragile ecosystems. It is caused by agricultural
policies in the West which use food surpluses as cheap aid to
developing countries and, thus, undercut their indigenous agricultural
economies.
Jackson, Cecile, 1994
"Gender Analysis and Environmentalism." In Social Theory and the Global Environment, edited by Michael Redclift and Ted Benton. London and New York: Routledge.
The coupling of women and environment in development discourses, popular, academic, and practical, has created an illusion of gender awareness. Yet women and gender are, of course, distinct, and this chapter aims to examine this illusion more closely. The author focuses on assumptions about women and environments but also raises the wider question of coercion in environmental management and regulation. A secondary theme of this chapter is to query the adequacy of the view that poverty is the cause of environmentally unfriendly behavior. This leads to assumptions that poverty alleviation will result in more positive environmental management, and that therefore development and conservation are inherently compatible. A gender perspective, however, suggests that environmental behavior is also formed by other social relations which can disrupt such an equation. It also suggests that environmental conservation is frequently predicated upon social inequality.
Jackson, Cecile and Molly Chattopadhyay, 1998
"Identities and Livelihoods: Gender, Ethnicity and Nature
in a South Bihar Village." In Agrarian Environments: Negotiating
Conflicts Over Resources and Identities in India, edited by A. Agarwal and K. Sivaramakrishnan. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
One of the challenges for gender analysis of environmental relations
is the need to steer between the structuralist approaches to land,
where land rights dominate concepts of agrarian power, and labor,
where divisions of work are taken to generate all environmental
knowledges, on the one hand, and the absorption with identity
on the other. The authors argue that there is a need for an understanding
of both material transactions as well as the force of identity
discourses in patterning existing social relations in order to
see gendered environmental change as different from the polarized
images of ecofeminism and contemporary radical environmentalism.
Towards that end, this study looks at how Dikku and Adivasi in
a south Bihar village see themselves and others, how they envisage
and justify their resource claims, what is the relationship between
actual and idealized livelihoods, and how gender identities and
relations are part of the legitimation of patterns of resource
use and access, and of representations of ethnicity.
Jiggins, Janice, 1994
Changing the Boundaries: Women-Centered Perspectives on Population
and the Environment. Washington, D.C. and Colvelo, California:
Island Press.
In this analysis, which establishes the essential need for policies
and programs based on women's experiences, knowledge, and leadership,
Jiggins leads us to the wellspring of women's redefinitions. For
women, Jiggins argues, a sustainable world is one in which societies
address issues of excessive consumption, expenditures for destruction,
and inequities based on class, race, gender, or ethnicity. Furthermore,
a definition of sustainability that encompasses principles of
social and economic justice can contribute to a more productive
dialogue among nations as they discuss population and development
issues. Women live, work, and care for their families and communities
in a rich context of relationships to people, their physical world,
and other living things. Women's development is the essential
conditions of sustainability, for only women's full participation
will lead to new ways of solving problems - ways that do not forfeit
the future of children; ways that respect the earth and the diversity
of life; ways that foster collective thought and action, thus
strengthening communities.
Joekes, Melissa, Cathy Green, and Melissa Leach, 1996
Integrating Gender into Environmental Research and Policy.
Sussex: Institute of Development Studies. (http://www.ids.ac.uk/blds/search/)
Many interventions in the environment sector have given women
a role in environmental projects in the hope that this would facilitate
resource conservation efforts as well as benefitting women themselves.
But across a whole range of sub-sectors (forestry, soil conservation,
water, rangeland management, integrated pest management, etc.),
outcomes have often been disappointing and sometimes even damaging
to women. This research seeks to understand the links between
gender relations and environmental management, which carries very
different policy implications. The authors stress that women's
property rights and natural resources need to be identified at
the outset and actively monitored throughout the life of a project,
and the importance of policymakers examining and supporting the
often little visible institutional arrangements and networks which
provide channels for women to press their concerns in situations
of ecological stress or environmental change. The authors also
emphasize the importance in widening women's range of livelihood
choices, and the necessity of women being paid for any current
labor contributing to a project on the same terms as men.
Kaufman, Polly Welts, 1998
National Parks and the Woman's Voice: A History. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.
Since 1857, when San Francisco teachers Harriet Kirtland and
Anna Park rode sidesaddle into Yosemite Valley, women have played
major roles in the national park story. As travelers, mountain
climbers, park founders, environmentalists, wives, and park rangers,
women have helped to shape the National Park System the US knows
today. Some parks owe their existence to women; others were protected
by women with a commitment to the future. This study provides
a missing chapter in the history of the US's preservation of historic
space and wild and scenic landscapes. Drawing on extensive research,
including hundreds of personal interviews, Kaufman presents the
story of women's contributions, often in their own words. She
documents their struggle to gain professional positions and equal
authority in a male-dominated organization that evolved from a
military culture. From symbolic issues such as women's right to
wear the distinctive ranger uniform to concrete problems of protecting
wildlife, Park Service women have insisted on having a voice in
policy decisions.
Kettel, Bonnie, 1995
"Gender and Environments: Lessons from WEDNET."
In Engendering Wealth and Well-Being: Empowerment for Global Change, edited by R. L. Blumberg, C.A. Rakowski, I. Tinker, and M. Monteon.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press, Inc.
The author asserts that African women's environmental knowledge
offers a potentially significant contribution to the protection
of the continent's natural habitats and to the improved well-being
of its people. In examining the case of Africa, the author presents
a new paradigm for women, environment, and development research
and for policy analysis. This new approach, which the author refers
to as "gender-and-environments analysis," addresses
the promotion of secure livelihoods, the protection of biodiversity,
and women's recognition and authority as environmental decision
makers. In this article, the author draws on the emerging results
of WEDNET research to develop the gender-and-environments paradigm
of African women's involvement in the "production of life"
and "nature." In addition, the central features of the
WEDNET conceptual framework are presented, and the early results
of the WEDNET research outlined. It focuses largely on women's
environmental decision making and outlines the implications of
the new paradigm for research and policy formulation.
Leach, Melissa, 1996
Rainforest Relations: Gender and Resource Use Among the Mende
of Gola, Sierra Leone. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
This book brings forest dwellers' own differentiated perspectives
to current rainforest debates. After reviewing changing conservation
agendas and gender and environment approaches, it draws on detailed
fieldwork to examine the importance of forest resources to local
economy and society, and how dynamic gender relations condition
women and men's different environmental relations. It shows
that neither an understanding of forest use and change, nor adequate
conservation policies, can be achieved without concern for gender.
Lele, Jayant, and Wisdom Tettey, Editors, 1996
Asia - Who Pays for Growth? Women, Environment and Popular Movements. Brookfield, VT: Dartmouth Publishing Co.
The conference, "Asia in the 1990s: Meeting and Making a
New World," held at Queens University, Canada in October 1993,
brought together academics and policy makers from Asia and North
America to engage in presentations and discussions spanning a
variety of issue areas, such as strategies of development adopted
by countries on the continent and lessons to be drawn from them;
the role of Asia in geopolitics of the 1990s and beyond; and the
position of Asian women in the international division of labor,
new social movements, and the environment. The conference gave
participants an opportunity to seek theoretical coherence for
the enormous intellectual, political, and economic diversity of
Asia with a view to improving understanding of the dramatic changes
occurring in that part of the globe, and helping focus on their
relevance to the rest of the world.
Lorber, Judith, 1998
"The Social Construction of Gender." In Race, Class and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study, edited by Paula S. Rothenberg. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Martin, Emily, 1997
"The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles." In Situated Lives: Gender and Culture in Everyday Life, edited by Louise Lamphere, Helena Ragone, and Patricia Zavella. New York: Routledge.
Mellor, Mary, 1997
Feminism and Ecology. Washington Square, NY: New
York University Press.
This work explores the history and development of various strands
of ecofeminism and their relationship to elements of feminism(s)
and ecologism(s) to suggest that ecofeminism offers a radical
social critique and a basis for a reformulated socialism. Ecofeminism
emerged in several locations around the world in the 1970s in
response to both local and global issues. These efforts are described
less as a coherent grassroots environmental movement than as a
series of networks sharing ideas, theories, and practices. Various
strands of ecofeminism have stressed both biological and social
constructions of the relationship between women and nature, but
all varieties engage in some way with women's embodiment as sexed
beings. It is generally agreed by ecofeminists that women have
a special relationship to nature and the consequences of human
actions in nature. Ecofeminists have contradicted much of the radical social constructionism
in feminist theory in that they argue for a special ontological
status for women vis-a-vis nature and call themselves more aligned
with the deep ecology of the Green movement. A synthesis of ecofeminism
with ecosocialism is proposed as a powerful materialist-socialist
theory that speaks to pressing issues facing human society. According
to this theory, women hold a privileged position because they
cross boundaries between society-nature and public-private, and
so compose the foundation of a new ecological/social movement.
Merchant, Carolyn, 1995
Earthcare: Women and the Environment. New York: Routledge.
Merchant examines historical associations of women with nature,
beginning with Eve and continuing through to environmental activists
today. She also discusses women's commitment to environmental
conservation, and the problematic assumptions of women as caregivers
and men as the dominators of nature. This book challenges humanity
to revise the ways the Western world has produced, reproduced,
and conceptualized its past relations with nature, and suggests
a new partnership ethic of environmentalism which men and women
alike can embrace.
-- 1989
Ecological Revolutions: Nature, Gender,
and Science in New England. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press.
This book explores some of the themes in Merchant's earlier book,
The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution: the roots of the environmental crisis, the roles of women in history,
the change from nature as mother to nature as machine, and the
place of science in the creation of the modern world. This book
also offers a new synthesis of ways that humans and the biosphere
have interacted over time. Merchant examines how different human
cultures - native American and Euramerican - occupied the same geographic
space in close succession with differing effects on the environment.
She uses feminist insights to analyze reproduction and show how
it interacts with production to give magnitude and direction to
ecological transformations. She also places science in the broader
context of human consciousness and asks how different cultures
knew nature and how these ways of knowing have changed over time.
Mies, Maria and Vandana Shiva, 1993
Ecofeminism. London: Zed Books and Halifax,
Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publications.
This book argues that ecological destruction and industrial catastrophes
constitute a direct threat to everyday life, the maintenance of
which has been made the particular responsibility of women. In
both industrialized societies and the developing countries, the
new wars the world is experiencing, violent ethnic chauvinisms,
and the malfunctioning of the economy also pose urgent questions
for ecofeminists. The authors ask, should women see a relationship
between patriarchal oppression and the destruction of nature in
the name of profit and progress? How can they counter the violence
inherent in these processes? Should they look to a link between
the women's movement and other social movements? Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva offer us a thought-provoking analysis
of these and many other issues from a unique North-South perspective.
They critique prevailing economic theories, conventional concepts
of women's emancipation, the myth of 'catching up' development,
the philosophical foundations of modern science and technology,
and the omission of ethics when discussing so many questions including
advances in reproductive technology as well as biotechnology.
In constructing their own ecofeminist epistemology and methodology,
these two internationally respected feminists and environmental
activists look to the potential of movements advocating consumer
liberation and subsistence production, sustainability, and regeneration;
they argue for an acceptance of limits and reciprocity, and a
rejection of exploitation, the endless commoditization of needs,
and violence.
Moore, Henrietta L. and Megan Vaughan, 1994
Cutting Down Trees: Gender, Nutrition, and Agricultural Change
in the Northern Province of Zambia, 1890-1990. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
This major study of household production, gender, and nutrition
traces detailed changes in the agricultural system of Zambia's
Northern Province over a period of 100 years. The authors
assess the ecological, social, and political changes affecting
the region, and provide one of the first studies to integrate
contemporary development initiatives with long-run interventions.
They further examine local responses to global processes of change.
Norwood, Vera, 1993
Made from this Earth: American Women and Nature. Chapel
Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press.
According to the author, the broad sweep of environmental and
ecological history has until now been written and understood in
predominately male terms. Here Norwood seeks to reclaim the contribution
American women have made to the study of nature from the early
19th century to the present.
Pena, Devon Gerardo, 1997
The Terror of the Machine: Technology, Work, Gender, and Ecology
of the US-Mexico Border. Austin, TX: Center for Mexican American Studies, University of Texas.
This book explores the complex intersections of technology, class,
gender, and ecology in the transnational milieu in Mexico's maquiladoras,
foreign-owned assembly plants located along the US border. The
author analyzes the political, cultural, and environmental effects
of maquila industrialization, and calls for alternative modes
of development that are ecologically sustainable and culturally
appropriate.
Rao, Nitya and Luise Rurup, Editors, 1997
A Just Right: Women's Ownership of Natural Resources and Livelihood
Security. New Delhi: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
Access and effective control over natural resources, land, water,
and forests, are crucial factors in the complex process of empowering
women. In the near absence of social security measures for the
poor in rural areas, ownership of land particularly constitutes
an important measure of security in times of crisis. This collection
of essays seeks to bring together conceptual analyses of resource
control by women, along with legal dimensions and a few examples
of local initiatives seeking to negotiate the process of resource
control by the marginalised, particularly women. It also brings
together experiences from different parts of India, in the process
of highlighting the criticality of regional variations, and the
need to take them into account both at the levels of policy formulation
and program implementation.
Reardon, Geraldine, 1993
Women and the Environment: Gender and Development. London:
Oxfam.
Although there is a growing awareness that relief and development
programs not only affect women and men differently, but also have
an impact on gender relations, the situation of poor women continues
to worsen. This book is designed to provide a forum for development
practitioners, students, and all concerned with the theory and
practice of gender-just development, to exchange views, record
experience, describe models of good practice, and disseminate
information about networks and resources. In doing so, the author
attempts to record some of the challenges surrounding development
issues and design a vision of development which does justice to
all, both women and men.
Rocheleau, Dianne, Barbara Thomas-Slayter and Esther Wangari, Editors, 1996
Feminist Political Ecology: Global Issues and Local Experiences. London and New York: Routledge.
This book explores the gendered relations of ecologies, economies,
and politics in communities as diverse as the rubber tappers in
the rainforests of Brazil and activist groups fighting environmental
racism in New York City. The contributors demonstrate how environmental
struggles occur throughout the world, from industrial to agrarian
societies. Women are often at the center of these struggles concerning
local knowledge, everyday practice, rights to resources, sustainable
development, environmental quality, and social justice. This book bridges the gap between the academic and rural orientation
of political ecology and the largely activist and urban focus
of environmental justice movements. It aims to bring together
the theoretical frameworks of feminist analysis with the specifications
of women's activism and experiences around the world.
Rodda, Annabel, 1991
Women and the Environment (Women and World Development Series).
London; Zed Books.
Women and the environment have a vast, rich history together,
and the author suggests that up until the Industrial Revolution this
connectedness was not an issue but a natural way of being. This
symbiotic relationship is slowly being torn apart, she argues,
and nowhere is this more evident than in the Third World countries
across the globe. In this book, this connectedness is looked at
primarily through the eyes of the women whose lives are most profoundly
affected by problems such as overgrazing, desertification, and
soil erosion. To walk four hours a day, three or four times a
week, to gather enough fuel to cook the meals or heat the home
is not something that many Western women have had to face. With
the help of very expressive photography, this book not only examines
the effects that environmental degradation will have on all people,
but also highlights what women all over the world can do to help
heal the planet.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford, Editor, 1996
Women Healing Earth: Third World Women on Ecology, Feminism,
and Religion (Ecology and Justice). Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
This volume of essays by women in Latin America, Asia, and Africa
on religion, ecology, and feminism presents an effort at cross-cultural
communication and solidarity between women of the "First
World" and women in those countries that are struggling against
the effects of Western colonization. This book is not only about
making the voices of women in Asia, Africa, and Latin America
audible to women of the North; it is also an opportunity for women
in the South to put together their own perspectives and to communicate
with and learn from one another. There is no suggestion in this book that these essays represent
an ecofeminist "movement" in the "Third World"
parallel to ecofeminism in North America. Rather, there is a variety
of movements dealing with ecological crises from several perspectives,
and within those movements, there are women who make a conscious
critique of the movements' androcentrism and seek to show the
connections between women's domination and the domination of nature. In short, Ruether suggests women deal modestly and truthfully
but also transformatively with who they are, culturally and economically.
Women need to reject what is oppressive but also make creative
syntheses of what is liberating in their heritages that can be
in positive reciprocity with the very different but complementary
syntheses being made by women who are both Shona and Christian
in Zimbabwe, who are Christian, Buddhist, and Shamanist in Korea,
who are Mayan and Methodist in Mexico. Only this way, Ruether
contends, can women begin to find how to be true friends and sisters
with women - with people - of other worlds, no longer as oppressors
trying to suppress other peoples' identities but also not as "white
blanks" seeking to fill our own emptiness at the expense
of others.
Sachs, Carolyn E, 1996
Gendered Fields: Rural Women, Agriculture, and Environment
(Rural Studies Series). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Rural women's experiences, largely overlooked by feminist and
rural scholars alike, provide fresh insights for understanding
gender relations and rural places. Rural women's lives have changed
in many ways in response to shifts in gender divisions of labor
and environmental degradation. Understanding the strategies rural
women use to negotiate these difficulties furthers feminist approaches
that derive predominantly from urban contexts. Recent developments in feminist epistemology, especially the
move from feminist standpoint theory to a more complicated understanding
of women's situational perspectives, create new avenues for understanding
rural women's lives and perspectives. Women's knowledge and practices,
which have been marginalized by scientists and development planners,
may well generate solutions to environmental and health problems. Feminist recognition of multicultural differences among women
suggests new strategies for analyzing complex social relations
in rural places. Use of ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic variables
insufficiently captures the complicated positions of rural women
of different classes, races, ethnicities, and sexualities. Scholars
studying rural women's lives would do well to keep abreast of
new developments in feminist theory and to promote scholarship
that incorporates rural women's actions and knowledge into feminist
theory.
Sachs, Carolyn E., Editor, 1997
Women Working in the Environment. Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis.
Sachs argues that understanding the gendered nature of human relationships
with the environment seems particularly critical for resolving
environmental problems. Whereas many of the initial efforts to
resolve environmental problems focused on technical and biological
solutions, scholars and activists are increasingly looking to
social causes for solutions. The author examines the major threads
in feminist theory in relation to environmental problems, including
ecofeminism, women and development, and postmodern feminism. Additionally,
this book introduces a framework for understanding women's connections
to the environment, and explores five major areas of concern,
including gender divisions of labor, access and control over resources,
knowledge and strategies for survival, participation in social
movements, and policy issues.
Salleh, Ariel, 1997
Ecofeminism as Politics: Nature, Marx and the Postmodern.
London and New York: Zed Books.
Why is an alliance between ecology, peace, feminism, socialism,
and postcolonial movements so slow in coming? In this polyphonic
text, Salleh tells us why. Informed by a critical postmodern reading
of the Marxist tradition, her ecofeminism integrates discourses
on science, the body, culture, nature, and political economy. Salleh,
who is known internationally for her gender critiques of ecopolitics,
explores here the philosophical challenge of ecofeminism, and
shows how confusion over the implications of 'difference' has
held back radical change. The book opens with an account of the
so far invisible history of ecofeminist politics; the second part
establishes ecofeminsm's status as an embodied materialism; while
part three argues that a way forward exists in the common agency
of women's and indigenous struggles. Salleh carries the terms of political argument to a new plane;
the analysis provides an antidote to neo-liberal complacency
and is as essential for activists in an era of globalization as
it is for scholars of social theory, women's studies, environmental,
and postcolonial studies.
Schmink, Marianne and Charles H. Wood, 1992
Contested Frontiers in Amazonia. New York: Columbia University
Press.
An interdisplinary analysis of the process of frontier change
in one region of the Brazilian Amazon, the southern portion of
the state of Par. The authors show how deforestation, settlement
patterns, and the intensity of rural violence were outcomes of
the competition for resources among social groups such as ranchers,
peasants, loggers, Indians, goldminers, rubber farmers, bureaucrats,
and investors, all of whom were capable of mobilizing varying
degrees of power.
Schroeder, Richard A., 1999
Shady Practices: Agroforestry and Gender Politics in the Gambia. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Shady Practices is a revealing analysis of the gnedered political ecology brought about by conflicting local interests and changing developmental initiatives in a West African village. Between 1975 and 1985, while much of Africa suffered devastating drought conditions, Gambian women farmers succeeded in establishing hundreds of lucrative communal market gardens. In less than a decade, the women's incomes began outstipping their husbands' in many areas, until a shift in development policy away from gender equity and toward environmental concerns threatened to do away with the social and economic gains from the garden boom. Male landowners joined forestry personnel in attempts to displace the gardens and capture women's labor for the irrigation of male-controlled tree crops. This carefully documented microhistory draws on field experience spanning more than two decades and the insights of disciplines ranging from critical human geography to development studies. Schroeder combines the "success story" of the market gardens with a cautionary tale about the aggressive pursuit of natural resource management objectives, however well intentioned. He shows that questions of power and social justice at the community level need to enter the debates of policymakers and specialists in environment and development planning.
Seager, Joni, 1993
Earth Follies: Coming to Feminist Terms with the Global Environmental
Crisis. New York: Routledge.
A powerful argument for looking at "agency" in understanding
our environmental affairs by avoiding essential notions about
the "inherent natures" of men and women. Takes a careful
look at the environmental movement, critiquing the policies and
masculinist presumptions that have been shaped by many of the
organizations that have grown out of it.
Sen, Amartya, 1997
"Population, Delusion and Reality." In The Gender and Sexuality Reader: Culture, History, Political Economy, edited by Roger N. Lancaster and Micaela di Leonardo. New York: Routledge.
The school of thought that follows Thomas Malthus predicts that as food
supplies rise, population will increase. Sen argues against the Malthusian prediction and maintains that food has been abundant in some parts of the world but population has not increased correspondingly. The alarmist predictions of those who talk about a "population bomb" have not taken place. Sen considers two approaches to population control: override and collaboration. He favors the collaborative approach, an approach consistent with the principle of autonomy. The override approach removes voluntary cooperation and imposes economic or legal coercion. China's one's child policy illustrates the policy of override: housing is refused to families with too many children. Another example is India's requirement of sterilization before providing any form of medical assistance, but this restraint was voted down in democratic elections. The collaboration approach preserves voluntary cooperation. It relies on the rational choices of individuals and encourages open dialogue and public discussion. Economic development has been associated with decreases in population, but this may be a long-term rather than a short-term solution. Increased income has been associated with decreases in population, but incomes have grown unevenly in "low-income countries." Sen concludes that education and health care are more effective ways of reducing world population than coercive measures.
Sen, Gita, 1994
"Women, Poverty and Population: Issues for the Concerned
Environmentalist." In Population and Environment: Rethinking
the Debate, edited by Lourdes Arizpe, M. Priscilla Stone and David C. Major. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
The author claims that despite the dissonance provoked by the
population-environment debate, there is much in common between
feminists and environmentalists in their visions of society and
the methods they use. Both groups have a healthy critical stance
toward ecologically inequitable patterns of economic growth, and
have been attempting to change mainstream perceptions in this
regard. Furthermore, the author asserts that both use methods
that rely on grassroots mobilization and participation, and are
therefore sensitive to the importance of political openness and
involvement. As such, both believe in the power of widespread
knowledge and in the rights of people to be informed and to participate
in decisions affecting their lives and those of nations and the
planet. The author affirms that greater mutual understanding on the population
question can result from a greater recognition that the core problem
is that of development within which population is inextricably
meshed. The author insists that taking into account the perspectives
of poor women can help ground this recognition in the realities
of the lives and livelihoods of many within the South. This means
that the population issue must be defined as the right to determine
and make reproductive decisions in the context of fulfilling secure
livelihoods, basic needs (including reproductive health), and
political participation.
Shiva, Vandana, 1989
Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development. London:
Zed Books.
Examining the position of women in relation to nature - the forests,
the food chain, and water supplies - the author links the violation
of nature with the violation and marginalization of women, especially
in the Third World. Both arise from assumptions in economic development,
a process the author argues should more aptly be described as
maldevelopment. One result is that the impact of science, technology,
and politics, along with the workings of the economy itself, are
inherently exploitive. Every area of human activity marginalizes
and burdens both women and nature. Shiva argues that there is only one path to survival and liberation for nature, women, and men, and that is the ecological path of harmony, sustainability, and diversity. She explores the unique place of women in the environment of India, in particular, both as its saviors and as victims of maldevelopment. Her analysis is an innovative statement of the challenge that women in ecology movements are creating and she shows how their efforts constitute a non-violent and humanly inclusive alternative to the dominant paradigm of contemporary scientific and development thought.
Shiva, Vandana and Ingunn Moser, Editors, 1995
Biopolitics: A Feminist and Ecological Reader on Biotechnology.
London: Zed Books.
Biotechnology is the most powerful bundle of new technologies
currently under development. It is also the most intrusive and
determinative technology relating to nature generally and the
human body specifically. While commercial and scientific publicity
has stressed the potential gains, a growing number of scientists,
thinkers, and activists have been warning of the grave risks and
difficult ethical issues at stake. This book assembles some of the most important work from feminists
and environmentalists critical of the headlong rush into what
is likely to prove a technological minefield. A distinguished
cast of contributors presents much-needed frameworks for understanding
and contextualising the debates on biotechnological development.
They explore the hidden implications and likely consequences of
defining biotechnological development, and they consider the hidden
implications and likely consequences of defining biotechnology
as the latest wonder cure for the environmental and developmental
crisis. The first part of the book explores the nature of biological
knowledge and the relationship between knowledge and nature. Part
two looks at discourses of risk in biotechnology, while the third
part examines ethical issues and the notion of responsibility.
Finally, the contributors explore biotechnology within the discourses
on sustainable development and North-South relations.
Silliman, Jael and Ynestra King, Editors, 1999
Dangerous Intersections: Feminist Perspectives on Population,
Environment, and Development. Boston: South End Press.
This collection of original critical essays by well-known feminist
scholars and activists presents a multicultural, international
scope on the major global issues of the day: environment, development,
and population control. The book provides alternative voices and
approaches to the short-sighted policies supported by many mainstream
politicians and NGO policies that focus on the fertility of poor
women of color, North and South, as the primary threat to the
ecological viability of the planet. The authors make a reasoned
yet impassioned argument for making women the central agents of
their own fate and the fate of the planet. Contributors include:
Asoka Bandarage, Marsha J. Tyson Darling, Marlene Gerber Fried,
Betsy Hartmann, H. Patricia Hynes, Joni Seager, Jael Silliman,
Andy Smith, Justine Smith, April Taylor, Meredeth Turshen, and
Meredith Tax.
Sittirak, Sinith, 1998
The Daughters of Development: Women and the Changing Environment. London: Zed Books.
The goal of this study is to integrate and synthesize the components
of Sittirak's area of concentration, that is, the exploration
of the conceptual background and concrete conditions of development,
women, and environment as they are related to, affected by, or reflected
in each other. Using the example of Thailand's three decades of
neo-colonization and the importation of Western ideology and technology
which came with the former's drive to become one of the 'developing'
countries, i.e. to pull itself out of 'backwardness' into the
forward momentum of global economic progress, Sittirak argues
that instead of achieving progress, our physical and cultural
environments have been destroyed in order to serve the consumerist
habits of a few hegemonic interests. This study utilizes a feminist critique by integrating several
Thai perspectives to explicate the changing role of the Thai women
resulting from social, political, economic, and environmental changes
brought on by development. To bring these changes into relief,
Sittirak focuses on a study of prostitution in Thailand in terms
of global militarism and consumerism. Thai women had originally
been maintainers of environmental indigenous knowledge. Many have
now become either primary producers whose labor is exploited to
produce commodity goods for others, or 'commodities' (i.e. prostitutes)
themselves. Additionally, in order to sharpen this critique, Sittirak incorporates the personal history of her mother and herself to
emphasize the changes that have occurred in Thailand as a result
of development. As Sittirak asserts, this crisis directly affects
women the most, as they are the ones who work in close relation
to nature and who are the poorest among the poor.
Sontheimer, Sally, Editor, 1991
Women and the Environment: A Reader. Crisis and Development
in the Third World. New York: Monthly Review Press.
This reader tells the rarely heard story of women living and
coping with growing ecological stress, limited food, fodder, wood,
and water, and less access to productive land than they have had
in the past. Those who have migrated to urban areas confront pollution,
miserable housing, and poor sanitation and water supplies. This
book represents women not as passive victims but as resourceful
and courageous fighters and organizers in the face of 'natural'
disaster, uncaring bureaucracy, development agencies and governments
whose priorities lie elsewhere, and traditional structures that
subordinate their need within both family and society. The women and their organizations described in this collection
have produced demonstrably effective approaches for more sustainable
uses of natural resources, and in doing so have challenged conventional
accounts of the role of women. Contributers include Sally Sontheimer, Shobita Jain, Bina Agarwal,
Irene Dankelman, Joan Davidson, Marie Monimart, Caroline Moser,
Frances Dennis, Dulcie Castleton, and Nalline Singh.
Steady, Filomina Chioma, 1993
Women and Children First: Environment, Poverty, and Sustainable
Development. Rochester, VT: Schenkman Books.
The twin processes of poverty and environmental degradation are
among the most formidable challenges facing humanity today. The
publication of this book, which is largely the outcome of the
Women and Children First symposium and the recommendations of
the 1992 Earth Summit, will provide valuable insights into and
modalities with which to study how aspects of gender and age can
be incorporated in regional, national, and international strategies
for the eradication of poverty and the halting of environmental
degradation. It will also bring into sharper focus the hitherto
unrecognized contributions of women and children to sound environmental
management and conservation.
Stein, Rachel, Editor, 2004
New Perspectives on Environmental Justice: Gender, Sexuality and Activism. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Women make up the vast majority of activists and organizers of grassroots movements fighting against environmental ills that threaten poor and people of color communities. New Perspectives on Environmental Justice is the first collection of essays that pays tribute to the enormous contributions women have made in these endeavors. The writers offer varied examples of environmental justice issues, such as children's environmental health campaigns, cancer research, AIDS/HIV activism, the Environmental Genome Project, and popular culture, among many others. Each one focuses on gender and sexuality as crucial factors in women's or gay men's activism and applies environmental justice principles to related struggles for sexual justice. The contributors represent a wide variety of activist and scholarly perspectives, including law, environmental studies, sociology, political science, history, medical anthropology, American Studies, English, African and African American studies, women's studies, and gay and lesbian studies, offering multiple vantage points of gender, sexuality, and activism. Feminist/womanist impulses shape and sustain environmental justice movements around the world, making an understanding of gender roles and differences crucial for the success of these efforts.
Steingraber, Sandra, 1997
Living Downstream: A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
In her early 20s, Steingraber was afflicted with cancer, a disease that has afflicted other members of her adoptive family. Writing from the twin perspectives of cancer survivor and concerned scientist, she traces the high incidence of cancer and the terrifying concentrations of environmental toxins in her native rural Illinois. She goes on to show similar correlation in other communities, such as Boston and Long Island, and throughout the United States, where cancer rates have arisen alarmingly since the mid-century. At once a deeply moving personal document and a groundbreaking work of scientific detection, Living Downstream will be a touchstone for generations, reminding us of the intimate connection between the health of our bodies and the integrity of our air, land, and water.
Sturgeon, Noel, 1997
Ecofeminist Natures: Race, Gender, Feminist Theory and Political
Action. London: Routledge Press.
This book emphasizes that when ecofeminism is viewed as a political
intervention into male-dominated discourses, such as deep ecology
or United Nations discussions of environment and development,
certain seemingly essentialist symbols and language can be seen
as products of an urgent need for political alliances among women
of profoundly different racial, class, and national backgrounds;
these "essentialist moments" help create a shifting,
strategic relationship between "women" and "nature"
for political purposes. Sturgeon also critiques certain essentialist
constructions of racial difference within ecofeminist practice
(the WomanEarth Feminist Peace Institute) and theory (the discourse
of "indigenous women" as the "ultimate ecofeminists"),
while also acknowledging them as real efforts to confront the
implications of race for ecofeminism. Finally, Sturgeon examines
numerous recent academic texts in which feminists create typologies
that charge ecofeminists with essentialism, or in which ecofeminists
use typologies to resist such changes.
Thomas-Slayter, Barbara and Dianne Rocheleau, 1995
Gender, Environment, and Development in Kenya: A Grassroots
Perspective. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Given the roles of women in managing rural resources and producing
food, and given the long-established division of labor by gender
in rural Africa, it is critical to determine the relationships
among women's roles and elements of effective village-based resource
management. This book focuses on ways community institutions - specifically
women and their groups or organizations - respond to changing resource
conditions and their strategies for regulating access to resources
for themselves and others and for gaining control of critical
resources such as soils, water, and woodlands. This book also
examines the impact of these responses on local decision making,
changing gender roles, rural stratification, community relations,
and other variables within the broader social and political environment.
Turpin, Jennifer E. and Lois Ann Lorentzen, Editors, 1996
The Gendered New World Order: Militarism, Development, and
the Environment. New York: Routledge.
The case studies in this volume demonstrate that the links between
gender and militarism, development, and the environment prove
to be the critical problems in the new world order. The authors
contend that environmental crises, misguided development strategies,
and the militarization of global culture all affect women disproportionately.
However, it is argued that militarism, the environment, and development
are linked and gendered. Moreover, the authors assert that people
can no longer think about women and development without considering
both direct and structural violence. This violence, in turn, cannot
be divorced from the impact on the environment. War destroys the
physical and social environment, consumes massive sums of money,
and shatters development progress. All of this exacerbates the
structural violence women experience. And both militarism and
environmental deterioration are rooted in development models that
emphasize capital accumulation for the few. Thus, the global forces
of militarism, the accumulation of capital, and the exploitation
of natural resources depend on a gendered order.
Venkateswaran, Sandhya, 1995
Environment, Development and the Gender Gap. New Delhi:
Sage Publications.
In developing nations, issues of survival are inextricably linked
to the state of the environment for an overwhelming proportion
of the population. This is especially true for women who interface
extensively with the environment, which directly affects their
physical, social, and political well-being. In this comprehensive study, women's predominant role in activities
relating to the environment, the impact of environmental degradation
on them, and their almost complete marginalisation from policies
and programs that seek to manage the environment is explored.
The author then argues against the common practice of grouping
all women together and points out the diversity between urban
and rural women and even amongst rural women of different classes,
showing the differential impact of resource degradation and environmental
policies on each of these disparate groups of women.
Ward, Martha C., 1999
"'What's For Dinner Honey?' Work and Gender." In A World Full of Women. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Warren, Karen J., Editor, 1997
Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, Nature. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
The strengths and weaknesses of the growing ecofeminist movement
are critically assessed by scholars in a variety of academic disciplines
and vocations. Writers explore the real-life concerns that have
motivated ecofeminism as a grassroots, women-initiated movement
around the globe; the appropriateness of ecofeminism to academic
and scientific research; and philosophical implications and underpinnings
of the movement.
-- 1994
Ecological Feminism (Environmental
Policies). London: Routledge.
"Ecological feminism" is an umbrella term which captures
a variety of multicultural perspectives on the nature of the connections
within social systems of domination between those humans in subdominant
or subordinate positions, particularly women, and the domination
of nonhuman nature. Ecofeminism has come to refer to a variety
of so-called "women-nature connections" - historical,
empirical, conceptual, religious, literary, political, ethical,
epistemological, methodological, and theoretical connections on
how one treats women and the earth. Furthermore, Ecofeminist analyses
of the twin domination of women and nature include considerations
of the domination of people of color, children, and the underclass.
Thus, this book seeks to dismantle patriarchal, human social systems
of domination by extending the analyses of such domination in
various ways to include nonhuman nature, generally, and "women-nature"
connections specifically. Warren argues that what makes ecological feminism feminist is
its twofold commitment to the recognition and elimination of male-gender
bias wherever and whenever it occurs, and to the development of
practices, policies, and theories which are not male-gender biased.
What the entries in this volume provide, then, is a distinctively
philosophical approach to ecofeminist concerns, which is especially
valuable for theorizing, theory-building, or policy-making for
feminism, environmentalism, and philosophy. The various articles
included in this book get at the basic beliefs, values, attitudes,
and assumptions - the conceptual and justificatory underpinnings - of
mainstream and alternative environmental, feminist, and philosophical
positions on reason, the self, knowledge, ethics, politics, and
language.
Wickramasinghe, Anoja, 1995
Deforestation, Women and Forestry: The Case of Sri Lanka.
Utrecht, NL: International Books.
In recent centuries, the rapid denudation of the earth's forest
cover has aggravated numerous environmental problems that threaten
human survival. The clearing of vast areas of forests for agricultural
use and human settlement and their harvesting for commercial timber
are widespread around the globe, while the need to conserve biodiversity
and ensure environmental sustainability remains nothing more than
a set of slogans. As a development sector, forestry is male dominated. Decisions
made at the level of policy planning and regional implementation
are accepted as infallible. Women, who form the lowest strata
of society, must implement decisions that ignore their own urgent
needs. The supremacy given to technical and scientific knowledge
over traditional practices has denied rural women a role in decision making
on land matters and discredited their expertise. They are thus
unable to contribute to a sector in which they have a great deal
of experience. Hence, in order to restore balance between the
needs and the availability of forest sources, it is essential
that women be promoted in forestry.
back to top
Issues and Concepts: Articles
Aboud, Abdillahi, Andrew J. Sofranko, and Serigne Ndiaye, 1996
"Effects of Gender on Adoption of Conservation Practices by
Heads of Farm Households in Kenya." Society and Natural Resources, 9:447-463.
This study explores the extent to which gender is a factor in
the adoption of a set of conservation practices in an area of
Kenya that is experiencing increased population density. The finding
from a comparison of male and female farm household heads reveal
that female-headed households have slightly higher levels of adoption
of several conservation practices. Although gender itself was
not shown to be a significant explanatory factor in predicting
adoption, the results of separate analyses suggest that male-female
differences in adoption are shaped in different environmental
conditions and experiences.
Adams, William M., Elizabeth E. Watson, and Samuel K. Mutiso, 1997
"Water, Rules and Gender: Water Rights in an Indigenous Irrigation
System, Marakwet, Kenya." Development and Change, 28:707-730.
The management of indigenous irrigation systems has received
increasing attention both from social science researchers and
from those development agents who seek to change them, or to find
in them a model for organizing newly developed irrigation schemes.
This article discusses how water is allocated within one such
irrigation system, the hill furrow irrigation of the Marakwet
escarpment in Kenya. It describes the 'formal rules' of water
rights, giving particular attention to the issue of gender with
respect to water rights. It then discusses the 'working rules'
relevant to water allocation, involving various informal practices
of sharing, buying, and stealing. The implications of this complexity
for understanding the operation of indigenous farmer-managed irrigation
systems are examined.
Agarwal, Bina, 1997
"Environmental Action, Gender Equity and Women's Participation."
Development and Change, 28:1-44.
For poor households, and especially for the women who own little
private land, forests and village commons have always been critical
sources of basic necessities in rural India. However, the availability
of these resources has been declining rapidly, due both to degradation
and to shifts in property rights away from community control and
management to state and individual control and management. More
recently, though, there are small but notable reversals in these
processes toward a re-establishment of greater community control
over forests and village commons. Numerous forest management groups
have emerged, initiated variously by the state, by village communities,
or by non-governmental organizations. However, unlike the old
systems of communal property management which recognized the usufruct
rights of all villagers, the new ones represent a more formalized
system of rights based on membership. In other words, under the
new initiatives, membership is replacing citizenship as the defining
criterion for establishing rights in the commons. This raises critical questions about participation and equity,
especially gender equity. Are the benefits and costs of the emergent
institutional arrangements being shared equally by women and men?
Or are they creating a system of property rights in communal land
which, like existing rights in privatized land, are strongly male
centered? What is women's participation in these initiatives?
What constrains or facilitates their participation and exercise
of agency? This article provides pointers. It also demonstrates
the relevance of the feminist environmentalist perspective, as
opposed to the ecofeminist perspective, in understanding gendered
responses to the environmental crisis.
Birkeland, Janis, 1995
"The Relevance of Ecofeminism to the Environmental Professions."
The Environmental Professional, 17:55-71.
Environmental theorists generally believe that a sustainable
society will require fundamental social and institutional change.
However, the debate over how to bring about that transformation
has occurred largely within a male-centered perspective. As a
result of this limited perspective, the political analyses and
strategies of environmentalists are often flawed. This is because,
with the exception of ecofeminism, green theory is still largely
androcentric (male-centered) and gender-blind and therefore retains
certain premises of mainstream thought that work against its program
for change. Environmental professionals, in attempting to apply the new insights
of ecophilosophy to their vocations, have been similarly handicapped
by the limitations of androcentric environmental theories. Ecologically
sound policies mean nothing if the institutional structures, methods,
and processes within which the environmental planners and advisers
work are inherently biased against sustainability. This paper
argues that ecofeminist theory and practice provide a more useful
paradigm for guiding the social and institutional transformation
that is required if we are to create a sustainable society.
Bjornerud, Marcia, 1997
"Gaia: Gender and Scientific Representations of the Earth."
NWSA Journal, 9(3):89-106.
This article examines the relation of gender and culture in the evolution
of scientific thought through the prism of the Gaia hypothesis,
developed in the 1960s by James Lovelock, Dian Hitchcock, and
Lynn Margulis. According to the hypothesis, Earth is best viewed
as a superorganism capable of regulating its chemistry and temperature.
Developed in scientific circles in the 1960s and 1970s, the hypothesis
has been objected to on the grounds that it is teleological, ill-defined,
unparsimonious, and unscientific. It is suggested that scientists
are fearful of this hypothesis because it challenges the fundamental
machine metaphor that lies at the center of the Western scientific
imagery. In stressing interconnection rather than hierarchy,
diffusion rather than centralization, the hypothesis inverts the
prevailing gender categories that structure current scientific
thought. The popularity of the hypothesis outside scientific circles
is taken to indicated its spiritual appeal. Despite its current
unpopularity among scientists, it is concluded that the Gaia metaphor
may yet make a significant contribution to scientific thought
and practice.
Blocker, T. Jean and Douglas Lee Eckberg, 1997
"Gender and Environmentalism: Results from the 1993 General Social
Survey." Social Science Quarterly, 78(4):841-858.
This research tests the proposal that women will be more concerned
about the environment than men because of their socialization
to the caregiver role and because of their structural position
relatively outside the labor market and in the home. Previous
research has produced mixed results. The authors used
data from the 1993 General Social Survey to explore the issue
of gender differences in environmental concern in more depth.
They looked specifically at effects of social status, knowledge,
trust in science, and religiosity and found that, while women do
tend to show somewhat more personal concern than do men for the
environment, they are no more likely to engage in environmental
action than are men. Women (and men) of higher social status,
with more knowledge, and with greater trust in science are more
likely to engage in proenvironmental action, not less. Further,
the authors replicated some findings of adverse effects of homemaker
status and parenthood on environmental orientations. They concluded
that, while there appear to be a few gender differences in environmental
orientations, these are not strong or consistent, and they do
not extend to actions.
Bord, Richard J. and Robert E. O'Connor, 1997
"The Gender Gap in Environmental Attitudes: The Case of Perceived
Vulnerability to Risk." Social Science Quarterly, 78(4):830-840.
Surveys demonstrate somewhat consistent gender differences in
environmental concern, but there is no consensus on reasons for
these differences. This research makes the case that differences
in perceived vulnerability to risk explain the gender gap found
in environmental surveys and other, quite distinct, areas of potential
risk as well. Two national surveys, administered simultaneously and each involving
very different environmental risks (hazardous waste sites and
global warming), are analyzed in terms of gender differences.
In both surveys, in every question that involves reactions to
a specific risk, women are more concerned than men. Standard deviations
also are consistently smaller for women. When health-risk perceptions
enter equations accounting for environmental concerns, however
the gender gap disappears. Questionnaire items that imply specific
risks tend to produce significant gender differences. These types
of survey results can be construed as communication events in
which respondents who feel vulnerable answer in ways that urge
caution on policymakers.
Brown, Phil and Faith I. T. Ferguson, 1998
"Making a Big Stink:" Women's Work, Women's Relationships,
and Toxic Waste Activism. Gender and Society, 9(2):145-172.
Women constitute the majority of both the leadership and the
membership of local toxic waste activist organizations; yet, gender
and the fight against toxic hazards are rarely analyzed together
in studies on gender or on environmental issues. This absence
of rigorous analysis of gender issues in toxic waste activism
is particularly noticeable since many scholars already make note
that women predominate in this movement. This article is an attempt
to understand how women activists transcend private pain, fear,
and disempowerment and become powerful forces for change by organizing
against toxic waste in their communities. This article systematically
looks at these connections by examining data from survey research
and case studies. The authors are particularly interested in the
transformation of self of these women, with an emphasis on "ways
of knowing." They also examine the potential of existing
social movement theories to explain women's activism against toxic
waste.
Burgos, Rita and Laura Pulido, 1998
"The Politics of Gender in the Los Angeles Bus Riders' Union/Sindicato
de Pasajeros." Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, 9(3):75-82.
The issue of environmental justice has entailed significant debate
over the relationship of race and class. Questions arise over
whether race or class is responsible for disparities in environmental
quality, as well as which analytical category best serves as a
basis for political mobilization. While such debates have reaffirmed
the continuing saliency of racism and have furthered our understanding
of the intersection of race and class, the role of gender has
not been equally considered. In this commentary we explore the
politics of gender in an urban grassroots movement that has articulated
its politics largely around race and class. The Bus Riders' Union/Sindicato
de Pasajeros (BRU) directly organizes to challenge the intersection
of racism and class bias. In this commentary, we first discuss
the BRU in general, and then consider the gender politics of the
BRU.
Campbell, Constance E., in collaboration with The Women's Group
of Xapuri, Acre, Brazil, 1997
"On the Front Lines but Struggling for Voice: Women in the
Rubber Tappers' Defense of the Amazon Forest." The Ecologist,
27(2):46-54.
Prevalent images of the rubber tappers' movement in western Brazil,
which gained renown under the leadership of Chico Mendes, are
of men. Yet women also tap rubber, gather Brazil nuts, defend
the forest, and are members and elected leaders of the rural workers' union. Despite their various contributions and activities, however,
women have tended to remain in the background of economic and
political arenas, almost invisible to environmentalists, researchers,
and even the movement itself. Many women are now working for women's
more active political and economic participation in the rubber
tappers' movement and the recently established extractive reserves.
Cooney, Catherine M, 1999
"Still Searching for Environmental Justice." Environmental
Science and Technology, May 1, 1999:200-204.
In 1982, angered African Americans protested the proposed dumping of PCB's
in their community in Warren County, NC. Although the landfill
was eventually created despite the local community's outrage,
the situation spurred the creation of the Environmental Justice
movement. Realizing the underlying connections between racism,
poverty, and environmental degradation, the conflict between industrial
entities and environmental, health, and social justice advocates
has become even more heated within recent years. This article
explores the movement's roots, economics and housing dynamics,
the role of the government in ending environmental injustice,
the firestorm of opposition by mayors, governors, and business
groups who benefit from the environmental degradation of certain
communities, and the pockets of progress the Environmental Justice
movement is making in eradicating unjust environmental policies
affecting defenseless and disadvantaged groups.
Cornwall, Andrea, 2003
"Whose Voices? Whose Choices? Reflections on Gender and Participatory Development." World Development, 31(8):1325-1342.
Efforts to promote participation in projects, programs, and policy consultation would appear to offer the prospect of giving everyone who has a stake a voice and a choice. But community-driven development, participatory planning, and other fine-sounding initiatives that make claims of "full participation" and "empowerment" can turn out to be driven by particular gendered interests, leaving the least powerful without voice or much in the way of choice. Bringing a gender perspective to bear on the practice of participation in development may assist in identifying strategies for amplifying voice and access to decision making of those who tend to be marginalized or excluded by mainstream development initiatives. Yet "gender" - like "participation" - has multiple meanings. In this article, the author explores some of the tensions, contradictions, and coplementarities between "gender-aware" and "participatory" approaches to development, suggesting that making a difference may come to depend on challenging embedded assumptions about gender and power, and on making new alliances out of old divisions, in order to build more inclusive, transformatory practice.
de Sherbinin, Alex, 1996
"Human Security and Fertility: The Case of Haiti." Journal
of Environment and Development, 5(1):28-45.
This article examines environmental security in Haiti and specifically
the connection between human security and fertility. Rather than
viewing population growth as a causal factor leading to the breakdown
in Haiti's social order, this article examines the ways in which
the lack of social order in Haiti has created a context in which
fertility rates have remained high. It attempts to move beyond
simplified views of population-environment-security links to a
fuller appreciation of the institutional factors that have contributed
to the country's socioeconomic decline and the breakdown of public
order. The principal conclusion is that the tremendous human insecurity
in Haiti - which is due to failures in governance, widespread poverty,
and environmental degradation - has contributed to large desired
family size. To succeed, future efforts to reduce fertility rates
will need first to address the economic and environmental security
of poor Haitians and particularly women.
Dodd, Elizabeth, 1997
"The Mamas and the Papas: Goddess Worship, the Kogi Indians,
and Ecofeminism". NWSA Journal, 9(3):77-88.
This article investigates the rising concern for the environment
and nature, which embraces stereotyped generic roles in goddess
and earth mother imagery, drawing on an analysis of Alan Ereira's
BBC documentary, From the Heart of the World:
The Older Brother's Warning (1990) and the accompanying book,
The Elder Brothers (1990). Ereira's project focuses on the Kogi,
a tribal people living in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of New York,
who have developed a cosmology in which the mother stands as both
a progenitor of nature and an intelligence that shapes nature.
However, Ereira ignored the intellectual importance of women,
in favor of concentrating attention on important cultural rituals
performed by male priests. Moreover, he has missed the fact that,
despite the central role of the mother figure, women actually
live unequal lives in Kogi society. It is concluded that images
of the goddess and earth mother poorly serve the needs of contemporary
ecological movements, because they imply a false separation between
culture and nature and contribute to misogynist forms of thought.
Epstein, Barbara, 1997
"The Environmental Justice/Toxics Movement: Politics of Race
and Gender." Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, 8(3):63-87.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s a new grassroots environmental
movement began to emerge, involving constituencies previously
distant from environmentalism: lower middle class and working
class whites; people of color; rural poor people, white and of
color. Though the environmental movement of the late 1960s and
1970s had made the question of pollution a priority, and while
some federal legislation was achieved on this issue during the
1970s, hazardous waste did not become a focus of activism, or
of public concern, until 1978, when an environmental scandal at
Love Canal, Niagara Falls, New York was uncovered. This article
examines the problems faced by people who have been typically
ignored or forgotten within the environmental justice/toxics movement,
and the greater implications this marginalization has had on freedom
and democracy in general.
Filemyr, Ann, 1997
"Unmasking the Population Bomber: Analyzing Domination at the
Intersection of Gender, Race, Class, and Ecology." NWSA Journal,
9(3):138-155.
This essay proposes to build on initial efforts in women's studies
and environmental studies to investigate patterns of sociocultural
domination and privilege within a critical framework in order
to examine more carefully the ideology of domination. The focus
is on expanding our social and cultural analyses of sexism, racism,
classism, heterosexism, anthropocentrism, and other "isms"
to examine the underlying ideological assumptions that sustain
the practice of domination. The intellectual task of deconstructing
domination across areas of privilege gives vital support to activists
engaged in social change efforts, whether they be involved in
feminist organizing or environmental advocacy.
Fuller, Norma, 2000
"Work and Masculinity Among Peruvian Urban Men." The European Journal of Development Research, 12(2):93-114.
This paper analyzes the representations of masculinity and work characteristic of the urban the middle class and popular sectors in Peru. The middle class is defined as those people dedicated to small or medium-sized commerce and industry, middle and upper level white-collar workers, and professionals. In order establish a clear difference between the middle class and popular sectors. The popular sector is defined as those sectors of the population that do not have a higher education and hold lower level white-collar jobs, are workers or small vendors. Popular sectors represent 80% of the population in Peru and have the highest levels of poverty. The central question posed is how men belonging to these sectors reaffirm or reproduce their gender identity in a context in which work, as the way to enter into the public sphere and the masculine circles, and as the basis of male authority within the family have been questioned as result of the emergence of new discourses of masculinity and gender relations that contest men monopoly of the work market and, specially to the impact of the neoliberal adjustment and the so-called "flexibilization" that threw men out of their jobs and forced women to enter massively into the market job.
Gaard, Greta, 1997
"Toward a Queer Ecofeminism." Hypatia, 12(1):114-137.
Although many ecofeminists acknowledge heterosexism as a problem,
a systematic exploration of the potential intersections of ecofeminist
and queer theories has yet to be made. By interrogating social
constructions of the "natural," the various uses of
Christianity as a logic of domination, and the rhetoric of colonialism,
this essay finds those theoretical intersections and argues for
the importance of developing a queer ecofeminism.
Greig, Alan, Michael Kimmel, and James Lang, 2000
Men, Masculinities & Development: Broadening Our Work Towards Gender Equality. United Nations Development Programme, Gender in Development Monograph Series #10.
Thinking about masculinities and men's roles in working towards gender equality is relatively new in the development field. This paper has presented a review of the meanings and uses of masculinity to catalyze thinking around these issues, to inspire new conversations and debate, and to offer a conceptual background for practitioners engaged in work with men. To carry this work forward, continued efforts should be made to publicize and advocate for the importance of men's responsibilities and roles in work towards gender equality in international fora, local and national policy debates, and development programming. Making masculinities visible and men more conscious of gender as it affects their lives and those of women is a first step towards challenging gender inequalities.
Hartmann, Betsy, 1996
"Population, Environment and Security: A New Trinity." Environment
And Urbanization, 10(2):113-127.
This paper critically examines the literature which claims that
internal conflict in Africa, Asia, and Latin America is often
the result of population pressures and resource scarcities, focusing
particularly on the work of Thomas Horner-Dixon. This literature
largely fails to consider the underlying economic and political
causes of environmental degradation and violence, including the
role of international companies, development assistance agencies,
and militaries. Yet, as the paper describes, this literature has
a growing influence. It provides a convenient rationale for sustaining
US military expenditures, which are threatened by the end of the
Cold War, and gives hardliners in the population control lobby
a justification for moving away from the new, broader focus on
reproductive health back to more coercive population policies.
It has also been used by journalists to
present inaccurate and racist images of Africa. The paper ends
with a discussion of why it is important to challenge this ideology
before it exercises a firmer hold on public policy and consciousness,
not least because it leads to negative stereotypes of women and
'peasant' farmers and could lead to the militarization of environmental
policy.
Hassanein, Neva, 1997
"Networking Knowledge in the Sustainable Agriculture
Movement: Some Implications of the Gender Dimension." Society
and Natural Resources, 10:251-257.
Knowledge issues are a critical dimension in the politics of
the sustainable agriculture movement. Recent research has examined
how sustainable farming networks facilitate the creation and exchange
of local knowledge about alternative practices and ideas. This
article extends those analyses by exploring the role of social
location in that knowledge creation and exchange process, based
on field research in a sustainable farming network organized by
and for women farmers. Different experiences in everyday life
may create multiple and partial perspectives from which local
knowledge for sustainability is generated and exchanged.
Hawkins, Ronnie Zoe, 1998
"Ecofeminism and Nonhumans: Continuity, Difference, Dualism,
and Domination." Hypatia, 13(1):158-197.
The dualistic structures permeating western culture emphasize
radical discontinuity between humans and nonhumans, but receptive
attention to nonhuman others discloses both continuity and difference
prevailing between other forms of life and our own. Recognizing
that agency and subjectivity abound within nature alerts us to
our potential for dominating and oppressing nonhuman others as
individuals and as groups. Reciprocally, seeing ourselves as biological
beings may facilitate reconstructing our social reality to undo
such destructive relationships.
Jackson, Cecile, 1993
"Doing What comes Naturally? Women and Environment in Development." World Development, 21(12):1947-1963.
The idea that there is a positive synergy between women's interests and environmental conservation is examined here at two levels. First, the article discusses the two main arguments in women, development, and environment (WDE) literature, i.e. that women have a special and close relationship with nature, and that women are particularly altruistic and caring in their environmental management. The author then scrutinizes the WDE view that women are therefore the "natural" constituency for conservation projects and programs by demonstrating how a gender analysis provides both a superior framework for understanding women and men's environmental relations and a potentially contrary view of the synergy between gender interests and environmental conservation.
-- 1995
"Radical Environmental Myths: A Gender
Perspective." New Left Review, 210:124-140.
Environmental activism has reached high levels of public visibility
since late 1994 when protests over the transport of live animals
at Coventry, Shoreham, and Brightlingsea attracted new supporters
to the animal-rights movement, revealing the growth of Green politics
in unexpected social corners and the changing content of Green
activism. Public commentary on these protests has also raised
the objection that society should be more concerned about the
ill treatment of people - children, the poor, ethnic minorities
- before mobilizing over the protection of animals. Jackson argues
that whilst the rejoinder of, for example, Compassion in World
Farming that these are not exclusive alternatives is reasonable,
the underlying concern over priorities is justified. The central
issue in radical Green politics is indeed the question of human
and non-human rights. Animal-rights groups have of course existed
for some time, but older organizations like the RSPCA and the anti-vivisection
campaign are now part of a much larger, broader, and more militant
movement. Ted Benton claims, "There has been a fundamental
shift in moral concern in Britain for the non-human world,"
and Geoffrey Mulgan of Demos states that "The Green movement is
going towards a post-humanist agenda." What does this new
face of post-humanist environmentalism imply for feminist environmentalism?
This article addresses a series of related issues in radical environmentalism;
in particular, the extent to which a bioethical position, and
much that this entails, is contrary to the interests of women
as relatively disadvantaged humans.
-- 1998
"Gender, Irrigation and Environment:
Arguing for Agency." Agriculture and Human Values, 15(4):313-324.
This paper is not a critique of water policies, or an advocacy
of alternatives, but rather suggests a shift of emphasis in the
ways in which gender analysis is applied to water, development,
and environmental issues. It argues that feminist political ecology
provides a generally stronger framework for understanding these
issues than ecofeminism, but cautions against a reversion to materialist
approaches which, like ecofeminism, can be static and ignore the
agency of women and men. The paper draws attention to the subjectivities
of women and their embodied livelihoods as a more useful approach
to understanding the ways in which women relate to water in both
irrigated agriculture and domestic provisioning.
Johnson, Barry L., Heraline E. Hicks, and Christopher T. De Rosa,
1998
"Key Environmental Human Health Issues in the Great Lakes and
St. Lawrence River Basins." Environmental Research, 80(2):S2-S12.
In May 1997, Health Conference '97-Great Lakes/St. Lawrence,
an international conference on the effects of the environment
on human health in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River basins,
was held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This was the third international
conference on this topic sponsored by agencies in the United States
and Canada. More than 120 platform and poster presentations were
given by scientists of different disciplines from the Great Lakes
region and elsewhere. The presentations represented the most current
research findings on the effects of the Great Lakes environment
on human health. The reports covered environmental contaminant
levels of persistent toxic substances (PTSs), routes and pathways
of exposure, exposure assessment and human tissue levels of PTSs,
human health outcomes, risk communication and assessment, and
approaches to scientific collaboration. Reports indicate that
levels of contaminants in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River
basins have generally declined since the 1970s, although certain
contaminants have plateaued or slightly increased. The findings
include elevated body burden levels of contaminants in persons
who consume large amounts of some Great Lakes sport fish, developmental
deficits and neurologic problems in children of some fish-consuming
parents, nervous system dysfunction in adults, and disturbances
in reproductive parameters. The findings underscore the need for
better public health intervention strategies.
Kanti Paul, Bimal, 1999
"Women's Awareness of and Attitudes Towards the Flood Action
Plan (FAP) of Bangladesh: A Comparative Study." Environmental
Management, 23(1):103-114.
Bangladesh has recently tested a program called the Flood Action
Plan (FAP) to solve its chronic flood problem. The FAP envisages
that all the major rivers of Bangladesh will eventually be embanked
on both sides in order to prevent flooding. This paper reports
on the responses of rural women to the possible impacts of the
proposed embankment projects as outlined in the FAP. A further
attempt is also made to compare their responses with the results
of an earlier survey conducted among male respondents. Data for
this study were collected from two rural areas in Bangladesh.
It shows that almost all respondents had heard about the proposed
construction and that they overwhelmingly support the embankment
project of the FAP. Respondents are also aware of both positive
and negative impacts of embankment construction. Similar findings
were also reported by a previous study dealing with male responses
to the embankment project.
Kendie, S.B., 1996
"Some Factors Influencing Effective Utilization of Drinking
Water Facilities: Women, Income, and Health in Rural North Ghana."
Environmental Management, 20(1):1-10.
In the examination of the implementation of rural drinking water
facilities, not enough attention has been paid to analyzing the
socioeconomic and political relationships that affect the effective
utilization of the facilities, particularly as these relate to
women in rural society. This paper suggests that much of the difficulty
in instituting the utilization of safe water supply sources has
to do with the rather low economic status of women - the main water
collectors. Poverty consigns women to long periods of work in
activities or jobs that bring little reward. This makes it difficult
to effectively digest the messages delivered by program staff
and limits the extent of usage of the safe water facilities.
Koerner, Elaine, 1997
"Silent Partners." The Environmental Forum, March/April
1997:18-23.
Though women's clubs played a pivotal role in fighting pollution
and protecting public health more than a century ago, their contributions
have been largely ignored by historians. Yet the evidence is compelling.
Club histories, newspaper articles, and books are beginning to
be dusted off and a startling picture is emerging. Moreover, upon
close examination, the story of these clubs' environmental
work is unerringly contemporary both in process and language.
The problems that they addressed were problems that continue to
bewilder policy makers today: polluted drinking water, inadequate
waste disposal, risks from environmental toxins, and other multimedia
quandaries. Thus, this article seeks to explore the contributions
of women's clubs in laying the foundation of community-based environmental
and health protection in the United States, and the importance
of women's participation in environmental politics.
Korovkin, Tanya, 2003
"Cut-Flower Exports, Female Labor, and Community Participation in Highland Ecuador." Latin American Perspectives, 30(4):18-42.
Kurian, Priya A, 1999
"Environmental Impact Assessment in Practice: A Gender Critique."
The Environmental Professional, 17:167-178.
The author evaluates the extent to which environmental impact
assessment (EIA), as conceptualized by EIA systems, is a gendered
process. Through a discourse analysis of in-depth interviews with
bureaucrats, technocrats, and activists involved with the Sardar
Sarovar dam project in India, she examines the practice of EIA
in a Third World country. In practice, the author argues EIA is
marked by gender biases that ignore the gender-specific nature
of impacts. Such biases distort the impact assessment process,
making environmental sustainability difficult, if not impossible,
to achieve.
Locke, Catherine, 1999
"Constructing a Gender Policy for Joint Forest Management in
India." Development and Change, 30:265-285.
Policy makers and advocates of joint forest management (JFM)
agree that women should be full participants and that their involvement
is especially important because of the nature of women's work.
This article examines how JFM policy has addressed gender in India.
It argues that policy has been informed by instrumentalist positions
in the debate over women's relationship to the environment. Consequently,
gender planning in JFM has focused on two issues: formal representations
for women in local institutions, and identifying women's 'special'
values, knowledge, and uses of forest resources. The scant evidence
suggests that the impact of JFM on women has generally been negative.
Finally, the article suggest that gender policy in JFM needs to
be based on a more sophisticated understanding of gender relations
and a wider examination of the gendered context of JFM processes.
Mellor, Mary, 1997
"Women, Nature and the Social Construction of 'Economic Man'."
Ecological Economics, 20:129-140.
This paper argues that the social construction of 'economic man'
is the product of a hierarchical dualism in Western society that
has also created 'rational man' and 'scientific man'. Women and
the natural world form the subordinated half of these dualisms.
Central to this paper is the claim that this dualism is not only
a cultural/theoretical one, but also a material one. The social
construction of 'economic man' is the product of a bifurcated
knowledge system and a materially divided society. 'Economic man'
reflects a society in which the embeddedness and embodiedness
of humanity is hidden by the division of mind from body, and science/culture
from the natural world. For this reason it is not possible to
incorporate women and nature into the 'economy' through the commodity
form by according them a value as price. It is argued that the
economic system can only exist if women and nature remain externalized,
as women form the bridge between an autonomous individualized
'man' and the biological/ecological underpinning of his existence.
Central to the analysis is the distinction between social and
natural/biological time. 'Economic' man lives in social time (clock
time) while women are responsible for biological time. This is
not because women are closer to nature/biology in an essential
sense. Rather, this relationship is imposed upon them by a male-dominated
society.
-- 1997
"New Woman, New Earth - Setting the
Agenda." Organization and Environment, 10(3):296-308.
Rosemary Radford Ruether's (1975) New Woman, New Earth was one
of the first ecofeminist texts. This collection of essays identified
many of the key issues for future ecofeminsts and asserted the
core of ecofeminist thinking: the subordination of women and degradation
of the planet were linked. Ruether explores this connection through
an analysis of women's history, a critique of the sexism of the
ideologies of Christian theology, classical philosophy, psychoanalysis,
and a socioeconomic analysis of industrial society. Central to
her ideas are the hierarchical dualisms in Western culture that
divide a feminized nature from masculine culture and the apparent
masculine need to seek transcendence from the bodiliness of human
existence. Here, the continuing relevance of Ruether's ideas are
explored, and some of the contradictions and dilemmas they contain
are highlighted. Among these are the relationship between the
