Ugandan activists make the case for ecofeminism
Source: Global Voices
Amid 1970s environmental threats of nuclear proliferation and pollution, the origin of the term “ecofeminism” is attributed to Françoise d’Eaubonne, a French feminist and ecologist who is said to have first used it in her 1974 work “Le Feminisme ou la Mort” (Feminism or Death), which was reprinted in October 2020 by Le Passager Clandestin. D’Eaubonne argued that the oppression of women and the exploitation of nature stemmed from a system deeply rooted in patriarchal values.
D’Eaubonne’s theory is fully expounded in her 1978 work “Écologie et féminisme. Révolution ou mutation?” (Ecology and feminism: Revolution or mutation?), where she explains that for centuries, men have controlled the fertility of both women and the earth, but global capitalism has pushed this domination to a new extreme: life itself is now at risk. As men in power fail to address the ecological and political crisis, she contends that women must reclaim control over their fertility and build an ecological, egalitarian, and self-governing society.
Ecofeminism, as a practice, was advanced beyond Europe in the 1970s as well. In 1973, in India, women led the Chipko movement, organized to protect trees and forests from deforestation. In 1977, Kenyan activist Wangarĩ Maathai, who in 2004 became the first East and Central African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization that, working on the intersection of ecological restoration and social justice, empowers rural women to restore ecosystems and forests through nature-based enterprises.
Amid 1970s environmental threats of nuclear proliferation and pollution, the origin of the term “ecofeminism” is attributed to Françoise d’Eaubonne, a French feminist and ecologist who is said to have first used it in her 1974 work “Le Feminisme ou la Mort” (Feminism or Death), which was reprinted in October 2020 by Le Passager Clandestin. D’Eaubonne argued that the oppression of women and the exploitation of nature stemmed from a system deeply rooted in patriarchal values.
D’Eaubonne’s theory is fully expounded in her 1978 work “Écologie et féminisme. Révolution ou mutation?” (Ecology and feminism: Revolution or mutation?), where she explains that for centuries, men have controlled the fertility of both women and the earth, but global capitalism has pushed this domination to a new extreme: life itself is now at risk. As men in power fail to address the ecological and political crisis, she contends that women must reclaim control over their fertility and build an ecological, egalitarian, and self-governing society.
Ecofeminism, as a practice, was advanced beyond Europe in the 1970s as well. In 1973, in India, women led the Chipko movement, organized to protect trees and forests from deforestation. In 1977, Kenyan activist Wangarĩ Maathai, who in 2004 became the first East and Central African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization that, working on the intersection of ecological restoration and social justice, empowers rural women to restore ecosystems and forests through nature-based enterprises.