By Katie Aplis, Communications Intern
This blog is for all self identifying women, including queer women, trans women, undocumented women, immigrant women, women of color, differently abled women, and women of all ages.
“Neither the land nor women are territories of conquest." Photo Credit: Andrea Barboza.
As we approach the end of Women’s History Month, I wanted to reflect on the link between gender equality and environmental action.
The term ECOFEMINISM captures this link by drawing connections between the degradation and exploitation of the environment and the oppression of women, people of color, and historically marginalized communities.
The patriarchal domination of women and of nature are mutually reinforcing. Women are disproportionately affected by the effects of environmental degradation, an act most commonly carried out by men. According to the UN, women are more likely to experience poverty and when climate change induced disasters strike, 80 percent of people displaced are women. With their financial and displacement statuses they are further subjugated by the patriarchy, making them more vulnerable to future climate disasters. And so the cycle continues.
Some linguists even offer the idea that the European concept of “Mother Nature” (going back as far as 30,000 B.C.E) may perpetuate the domination of nature as it is “feminine.” We have been socially conditioned to perceive The Feminine in a similar way as natural resources: something to be controlled and used. Although this perception is a result of internalized social conditioning, it does not excuse sexist behavior; it is something to be acknowledged and acted upon.
The truth is that effective environmental action (such as reducing pollution, mitigating climate change, and implementing environmental protection policies) cannot exist without feminism. There can’t be a reasonable fight against environmental degradation when half of the population is controlled by the same domination that nature faces.
Ecofeminists strive to free women from the so-called “isms of domination” - women from sexism, women of color from racism, low income women from classism, differently abled women from ableism, and Jewish women from anti-semitism, to name a few. The struggle to liberate women from these forms of oppression is a struggle for gender equality - a nuanced, intersectional issue comprised of all of these “dominating isms.” Supporting gender equality is not a radical act; it’s upholding human rights.
Source: Graphic by Martine Ehrhart via
So what do we, as a society, do for gender equality in terms of environmental action? Where do we even begin?
We can start at the root: by educating and empowering young women. A comparison of average years of schooling for young girls with a country’s ND-Gain Index (a tool developed by Notre Dame University to score a country’s resilience to climate disasters) shows a positive correlation. Educating young women in both formal and informal settings will set them up to be environmental leaders, politicians who implement environmental policy, and environmental justice activists.
Secondly, we should equip women with knowledge of their reproductive health and rights and continue to fight for body autonomy. Access to contraception, and thus family planning, is a crucial means of empowerment, a mechanism that reduces maternal death and illness, as well as provides greater opportunities for education and personal and professional growth.
When women have agency over their own bodies, they carry this force into the political and social sphere, they are more empowered leaders, and they have more means to effect fundamental environmental action.
With greater agency over their personal and professional lives, women put themselves into a position for more political and decision making power. For effective environmental change, we need a diversity of experience and perspective to influence policy, but we cannot achieve this status when half of the population’s perspective is marginalized.
I believe women and other oppressed communities are more equipped to fight for environmental action because we already fight for our own voices to be heard in everyday life (i.e. in the workplace, at the Texas State Capitol, in our own homes, etc.). We are more aware of the power held over natural resources and ecosystems because we are actively striving to dismantle these same power dynamics in our daily lives.
Women, especially in developing countries, have a special relationship with land and water resources. In some countries, women account for 60-80 percent of the agricultural workforce which translates to invaluable knowledge and understanding of ecological processes. A resource in its own right, this knowledge is key to conservation efforts.
Beyond Women’s History Month, let’s recognize the overlap of environmental justice and women’s rights and continue our fight for gender equality and human rights.
And yes, I did listen to Beyoncé while writing this blog.
Action Alert:
The Women and Climate Change Act, introduced by Representative Barbara Lee, promotes approaches to climate change mitigation that uplift, include and empower women. With 47 cosponsors already, support for the bill is growing -- but we need you to make sure your representative is on board! Ask your Representative to cosponsor the Women and Climate Change Act!