Ecofeminism integrates

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and

political ecology Political ecology is the study of the relationships between political, economic and social factors with environmental issues and changes. Political ecology differs from apolitical ecological studies by politicizing environmental issues and pheno ...

. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

to analyze relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in her 1974 book . Ecofeminist theory introduces a feminist perspective to

Green politics Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy.#Wal10, Wall 2010. p. 12-13. ...

and calls for an

egalitarian Egalitarianism (; also equalitarianism) is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all h ...

, collaborative society in which there is no one dominant group. Today, there are several branches of ecofeminism, with varying approaches and analyses, including liberal ecofeminism, spiritual/cultural ecofeminism, and social/socialist ecofeminism (or materialist ecofeminism). Interpretations of ecofeminism and how it might be applied to social thought include ecofeminist art,

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

and

political philosophy Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and Political legitimacy, legitimacy of political institutions, such as State (polity), states. This field investigates different ...

, religion, economics, contemporary feminism, and literature. Ecofeminist analyses address the political effects of culturally constructed parallels between the oppression of nature and the oppression of women. These parallels include, but are not limited to, seeing women and nature as property, seeing men as the curators of culture and women as the curators of nature, and how men dominate women and humans dominate nature. Ecofeminism emphasizes that both women and nature must be respected.

Worldwide activism

Professors of sociology, Maria Mies, Ariel Salleh and Susan Mann all associate the beginning of ecofeminism not with feminists but with women of many historically different backgrounds who have perceived connections between gender, race, class, and environmental issues. The ideal of

intersectionality Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how groups' and individuals' social and political identities result in unique combinations of discrimination and privilege. Examples of these intersecting and overlapping factor ...

is upheld through the notion that in activist and theory circles marginalized groups must be included in the discussion. However, in early North American environmentalism, the issues of race and class were sometimes separated. Women have long worked to protect

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

, food, air and water. These efforts coincided with new developments in environmental theory from writers such as

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon sim ...

Aldo Leopold Aldo Leopold (January 11, 1887 – April 21, 1948) was an American writer, Philosophy, philosopher, Natural history, naturalist, scientist, Ecology, ecologist, forester, Conservation biology, conservationist, and environmentalist. He was a profes ...

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the national park, National Parks", was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologi ...

, and Rachel Carson. Parallel examples from women environmental ethicists were the books ''

Silent Spring ''Silent Spring'' is an environmental science book by Rachel Carson. Published on September 27, 1962, the book documented the environmental harm caused by the indiscriminate use of DDT, a pesticide used by soldiers during World War II. Carson acc ...

'' by Rachel Carson and ''Refuge'' by

Terry Tempest Williams Terry Tempest Williams (born September 8, 1955) is an American writer, educator, conservationist, and activist. Williams' writing is rooted in the American West and has been significantly influenced by the arid landscape of Utah. Her work foc ...

. Ecofeminist Karen Warren lists Aldo Leopold's essay "

Land Ethic A land ethic is a philosophy or theoretical framework about how, ethically, humans should regard the land. The term was coined by Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) in his '' A Sand County Almanac'' (1949), a classic text of the environmental movement. ...

" (1949) as fundamental to her own ecofeminist philosophy, as Leopold was the first to pen an ethic for the land which understands all non-human parts of that community (animals, plants, land, air, water) as equal to and in a relationship with humans. That inclusive understanding of the environment helped launch the modern preservation movement showing how environmental issues can be viewed through a framework of caring. In

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, in the state of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

in 1973, women took part in the Chipko movement to protect forests from

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

. Many men during this time were moving to cities in search of work, and women that stayed in the rural parts of India were reliant on the forests for subsistence. As documented by Vandana Shiva, Non-violent protest tactics were used to occupy trees so that loggers could not cut them down. Wangari Maathai no Brasil

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

in 1977, the Green Belt Movement was initiated by environmental and political activist Professor Wangari Maathai. It is a rural tree planting program led by women, which Maathai designed to help prevent

desertification Desertification is a type of gradual land degradation of Soil fertility, fertile land into arid desert due to a combination of natural processes and human activities. The immediate cause of desertification is the loss of most vegetation. This i ...

in the area. The program created a '

green belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

' of at least 1,000 trees around villages, and gave participants the ability to take charge in their communities. In later years, the Green Belt Movement was an advocate for informing and empowering citizens through seminars for civic and environmental education, as well as holding national leaders accountable for their actions and instilling agency in citizens. The work of the Green Belt Movement continues today. In 1978 in New York, mother and environmentalist Lois Gibbs led her community in protest after discovering that their entire neighborhood, Love Canal, was built on top of a toxic dump site. The toxins in the ground were causing illness among children and reproductive issues among women, as well as

birth defect A birth defect is an abnormal condition that is present at birth, regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can range from mild to severe. Birth de ...

s in babies born to pregnant women exposed to the toxins. The Love Canal movement eventually led to the evacuation and relocation of nearly 800 families by the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

. In 1980 and 1981, women like ecofeminist Ynestra King organized a peaceful protest at the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

. Women stood, hand in hand, demanding equal rights (including social, economic, and

reproductive rights Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to human reproduction, reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights: Reproductive rights ...

) as well as an end to militaristic actions taken by the government and exploitation of the community (people and the environment). This movement is known as the Women's Pentagon Actions. In 1985, the Akwesasne Mother's Milk Project was launched by Katsi Cook. This study was funded by the government, and investigated how the higher level of contaminants in water near the Mohawk reservation impacted babies. It revealed that through

breast milk Breast milk (sometimes spelled as breastmilk) or mother's milk is milk produced by the mammary glands in the breasts of women. Breast milk is the primary source of nutrition for newborn infants, comprising fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and a var ...

, Mohawk children were being exposed to 200% more toxins than children not on the reservation. Toxins contaminate water all over the world, but due to environmental racism, certain marginalized groups are exposed to a much higher amount. The Greening of Harlem Coalition is another example of an ecofeminist movement. In 1989,

Bernadette Cozart Bernadette Cozart (May 17, 1949 – July 27, 2009) was an American professional gardener, botanist, and urban horticulture, urban gardening advocate. She worked for a time with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Biography In 1 ...

founded the coalition, which is responsible for many urban gardens around

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

. Cozart's goal is to turn vacant lots into

community gardens A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given ge ...

. This is economically beneficial, and also provides a way for very urban communities to be in touch with nature and each other. The majority of people interested in this project (as noted in 1990) were women. Through these gardens, they were able to participate in and become leaders of their communities. Urban greening exists in other places as well. Beginning in 1994, a group of

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

women in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

have developed city gardens, and call themselves the Gardening Angels. Similar garden movements have occurred globally. The development of vegetarian ecofeminism can be traced to the mid-80s and 90s, where it first appeared in writing. However, the roots of a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

ecofeminist view can be traced back further by looking at sympathy for non-humans and counterculture movements of the 1960s and 1970s. At the culmination of the decade, ecofeminism had spread to both USA coasts and articulated an intersectional analysis of women and the environment. Eventually, challenging ideas of environmental classism and racism, resisting toxic dumping and other threats to the impoverished. Vegetarian ecofeminists assert that "omitting the oppression of animals from feminist and ecofeminist analyses … is inconsistent with the activist and philosophical foundations of both feminism (as a "movement to end all forms of oppression") and ecofeminism." Here, " the personal is political", as many ecofeminists believe that "meat-eating is a form of patriarchal violence." During a 1995 interview with '' On the Issues,'' Carol Adams stated, "Manhood is constructed in our culture in part by access to meat-eating and control of other bodies, whether it's women or animals". According to Adams, "We cannot work for justice and challenge the oppression of nature without understanding that the most frequent way we interact with nature is by eating animals". Vegetarian ecofeminism is a clearly committed system of ethics and action. Laura Wright would propose Vegan Studies as an academic discipline. In terms of the international movement, Ariel Salleh's book ''Ecofeminism as Politics'' (last reprinted in 2017) contains a detailed account of women's ecofeminist actions from

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

Early texts

Though the scope of ecofeminist analysis is dynamic and diverse ecofeminist perspectives have emerged from women activists and thinkers all over the world, academic studies of ecofeminism have been dominated by North American universities. Thus, Charlene Spretnak described ecofeminist work developing: 1) through the study of political theory as well as history; 2) through belief and study of nature-based religions; and 3) through

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

. In a 1993 essay entitled "Ecofeminism: Toward Global Justice and Planetary Health", authors Greta Gaard and

Lori Gruen Lori Gruen is an American philosopher, ethicist, and author who is the William Griffin Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.Rosemary Ruether and Carolyn Merchant, Gaard and Gruen argued that there are four forces behind this political framework: # The rise of patriarchal religions and their establishment of gender hierarchies along with their denial of immanent divinity. # The mechanistic materialist model of the universe that resulted from the

scientific revolution The Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of History of science, modern science during the early modern period, when developments in History of mathematics#Mathematics during the Scientific Revolution, mathemati ...

and the subsequent reduction of all things into mere resources to be optimized, dead inert matter to be used. # Traditional cultural dualisms based on masculinity v femininity, self v other, humanity v nature, and the inherent power and domination ethic these entail. #

Capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

and its intrinsic need for the instrumental exploitation of animals, earth and people for the sole purpose of creating

wealth Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an ...

. These four factors have brought Western cultures to what ecofeminists see as a "separation between nature and culture" that is the root source of our planetary ills. Some ecofeminist approaches developed out of anarcha-feminist concerns to abolish all forms of domination, including the oppressive character of humanity's relationship to the natural world. According to d'Eaubonne's book ''Le Féminisme ou la Mort'', ecofeminism relates the

oppression Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment of, or exercise of power over, a group of individuals, often in the form of governmental authority. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. No universally accepted model ...

of all marginalized groups (women, people of color, children, the poor) to the oppression and domination of nature (animals, land, water, air, etc.). She argued that domination, exploitation, and

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

under Western

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

society has directly caused irreversible environmental damage. An activist and organizer, d'Eaubonne worked for the eradication of all social injustice, not just injustice against

women and the environment In the early 1960s, an interest in women and their connection with the environment was sparked largely by Ester Boserup's book ''Woman's Role in Economic Development''. Starting in the 1980s, policy makers and governments became more mindful of th ...

. Influential early texts included: ''Women and Nature'' ( Susan Griffin 1978), '' The Death of Nature'' ( Carolyn Merchant 1980) and ''Gyn/Ecology'' ( Mary Daly 1978), which helped propel the association between domination by men of women and the domination of culture over nature. Meanwhile feminist activism of the 1980s included grass-roots movements such as the National Toxics Campaign, Mothers of East Los Angeles (MELA), and Native Americans for a Clean Environment (NACE) led by women devoted to issues of human health and environmental justice. Writing from this circle discussed ecofeminism drawing from Green Party politics,

peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pe ...

s, and direct action movements. A key figure at this time was Petra Kelly, a founder of the German Green Party.

Gendering nature

A reoccurring claim within ecofeminist literature is that masculinist structures justify their dominance through binary oppositions, these include but are not limited to:

heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

/earth, mind/body,

male Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

, human/animal, spirit/matter, culture/nature,

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

/non-white, and abled/disabled. Oppression is reinforced by applying these binaries in social judgements of value/non-value. Ecofeminist theory asserts that

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

is built on paternalist and masculinist values, such that the effects of capitalism can not benefit women. Ecofeminist scholars emphasized that it is not ''because'' women are female or "feminine" that they are sensitive to nature, but because they experience oppression by the same masculinist forces. This

marginalization Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. In the EU context, the Euro ...

is evident in the standard gendered language used to describe nature, such as "Mother Earth" or "Mother Nature", and the animalized language used to describe women in derogatory terms. By contrast, other ecofeminists prefer to emphasise the value of women's skills learned from the traditional social role as '

caregiver A caregiver, carer or support worker is a paid or unpaid person who helps an individual with activities of daily living. Caregivers who are members of a care recipient's family or social network, who may have specific professional training, are o ...

'. The Indian ecofeminist and activist Vandana Shiva wrote that women farmers have a special connection to the environment through daily experience and that this has been underestimated. According to Shiva's book ''Staying Alive'' (1989), women in subsistence economies who produce "wealth in partnership with nature, have been experts in ecological knowledge of nature's processes". She makes the point that "these alternative modes of knowing, which are oriented to the social benefits and sustenance needs are not recognized by the reductionist capitalist paradigm, because it fails to perceive the interconnectedness of nature, or the connection of women's lives, work and knowledge with the creation of wealth (23)". Shiva attributes this failure to the global domination of Western perceptions of development and progress. According to Shiva,

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

has left women, nature, and many other groups outside of the economy, labelling them "unproductive". Similarly, Ariel Salleh deepens this materialist ecofeminist approach in a critical dialogue with green politics and ecosocialism.

Conceptual approaches

Materialist ecofeminism

In the book ''Ecofeminism'' (1993), Vandana Shiva and Maria Mies interrogate modern science and its acceptance as a universal and value-free system. They view the dominant stream of science not as objective but rather as a projection of Western patriarchal instrumentalism.(Mies, Maria, and Vandana Shiva. ''Ecofeminism''. Halifax, N.S. : Fernwood Publications; 1993. 24.) The determination of what is considered scientific knowledge and its usage has been largely restricted to men. Examples include the medicalization of

childbirth Childbirth, also known as labour, parturition and delivery, is the completion of pregnancy, where one or more Fetus, fetuses exits the Womb, internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section and becomes a newborn to ...

and the industrialization of

plant reproduction Plants may reproduce sexually or asexually. Sexual reproduction produces offspring by the fusion of gametes, resulting in offspring genetically different from either parent. Vegetative reproduction produces new individuals without the fusion o ...

. The key activist-scholars developing a materialist ecofeminism are Maria Mies and Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen in Germany; Vandana Shiva in India; Ariel Salleh in Australia; Mary Mellor in the UK; and Ana Isla in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. Materialist ecofeminism is not widely known in North America aside from the journal collective at ''Capitalism Nature Socialism''. A materialist analysis studies economic institutions such as labor, power, and property as a critical mechanism for control over women and nature. The contrast is between production, which is valued, versus

reproduction Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. There are two forms of reproduction: Asexual reproduction, asexual and Sexual ...

of living relations, which is not. This ecofeminism is referred to variously as "social feminism", "socialist ecofeminism", or "Marxist ecofeminism". According to Carolyn Merchant, "Social ecofeminism advocates the liberation of women through overturning economic and social hierarchies that turn all aspects of life into a market society that today even invades the womb". Ecofeminism in this sense seeks to eliminate social hierarchies which favor the production of

commodities In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. Th ...

for

profit Profit may refer to: Business and law * Profit (accounting), the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market * Profit (economics), normal profit and economic profit * Profit (real property), a nonpossessory inter ...

over biological and social reproduction traditionally seen as the sphere of women's work.

Spiritual and cultural ecofeminism

Spiritual ecofeminism is an approach popular among North American authors such as Starhawk, Riane Eisler, Carol Christ and Carol Adams. Starhawk calls for an earth-based spirituality, which recognizes that the Earth is alive, and that we are all interconnected. Spiritual ecofeminism is not linked to any specific religion, but is centered around values of caring,

compassion Compassion is a social feeling that motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental, or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is sensitivity to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based ...

, and non-violence.Eisler, Riane. "The Gaia Tradition & The Partnership Future: An Ecofeminist Manifesto." ''Reweaving the World: The Emergence of Ecofeminism,'' edited by Irene Diamond and Gloria Orenstein, Sierra Club Books, 1990, pp. 23-34. Often, ecofeminists refer to ancient traditions, such as the worship of Gaia, the Goddess of nature and spirituality (also known as Mother Earth).

Wicca Wicca (), also known as "The Craft", is a Modern paganism, modern pagan, syncretic, Earth religion, Earth-centred religion. Considered a new religious movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esote ...

and

Paganism Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

are particularly influential in spiritual ecofeminism. Wicca, in particular Dianic Wicca, traditionally demonstrates a deep respect for nature, a feminine outlook, and an aim to establish strong community values. In her book ''Radical Ecology,'' Carolyn Merchant refers to spiritual ecofeminism as "cultural ecofeminism". According to Merchant, cultural ecofeminism "celebrates the relationship between women and nature through the revival of ancient rituals centered on goddess worship, the moon, animals, and the female reproductive system." Cultural ecofeminist practice intuition and an ethic of care in human-nature interrelationships.

Ecofeminism in Latin America

Latin American ecofeminism emerged as a distinct strand within the broader ecofeminist movement. While early ecofeminist frameworks were primarily shaped in the Global North, the publication of Staying Alive by Vandana Shiva in the mid-1980s marked a turning point. This work introduced the foundations for a postcolonial ecofeminism that would inspire and inform debates and reformulations in the Global South, including Latin America. Latin America also had an early ecofeminist trajectory, although with less dissemination and influence in the global feminist theory. However, some scholars would agree that there is still a long way to go in the construction of a Latin American ecofeminism, which considers the leading role in the social and political struggles of rural women in the Global South committed to the sustainability of their practices of food production, the livelihood of their families, solidarity community relations, an inclusive economy and the support of human and non-human life. From a Feminist Political Ecology perspective, there are new emphases through the cross-cutting influence of posthumanist thought, as well as postcolonial and decolonial ideas. These new emphases allow for a renewed engagement with Latin American and Global South ecofeminisms, while also opening up space for the inclusion of conceptual frameworks, lived experiences, and research contributions from both Latin American academia and activism. It is also worth highlighting the role of the rural space as a place for deep structural violence against women, which constantly erases the stories, knowledge and experiences of many people, who are not allowed to speak and transmit valid knowledge about themselves and about the relationships of care, existence and life support that they build with nature, contemplating environmental preservation and sustainability.

Cuerpo Territorio

The concept of "''Cuerpo-Territorio''" - Body-Territory is a pivotal idea within Latin American ecofeminism, emerging from the struggles of indigenous communities against intertwined forms of oppression: patriarchy, colonialism, and extractivism. It serves both as a theoretical framework and a practical method of resistance, linking women's bodies as territories to be defended and the Earth as an entity endowed with rights against exploitation. It is said to have emerged as a concept and method from a political group of Maya-Xinka indigenous women in Guatemala and is central to the political project of community feministsFerreira, L., & Marinho, S. (2022). ''Resisting violence, creating dignity: Negotiating violence against women and girls through community history-making in Rio de Janeiro''. People’s Palace Projects. https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/body-mapping-report-1.pdf. Historically, colonialism involved the conquest and exploitation of territories, which also entailed the domination of bodies, particularly female bodies. During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, women were subjected to exploitation, including commodification, mass rape, and mutilation. Thus, the conquest of land became intertwined with the exploitation of women's bodies, making their bodies territories to be defended. The emergence of the cuerpo-territorio concept within indigenous communities is no coincidence. These territories are systematically targeted by extractivism and colonization. Women in these communities are affected in their bodies but also use their bodies to resist and fight. The concept is constructed and utilized in opposition to the hierarchical dichotomy between body and nature, interior and exterior, which supposedly legitimizes the exploitation of nature by bodies. The concept of cuerpo territorio asserts the body as a continuum of the land, seeing “the body as territory, and the territory as a body”. It frames the body as “ones most intimate and immediate geography,” and affirms a worldview in which bodies are part of the wider network of all life. As Lorena Cabnal of the Indigenous Women’s Association of Santa María Xalapán explains, "''territorio cuerpo-tierra'' is a motto to be recuperated and defended and implemented as a political banner in the defense of the land. It is a framework of struggle against sexual violence and mining. It is a political category of indigenous community feminism, a way to suggest and feel the body as territory alive and historical. It alludes to a cosmological interpretation and a politic that acknowledges how bodies have a relation and being in the network of all life. Concurrently, it pushes us to rethink how bodies have been constructed by multiple oppressions, the historical structure of patriarchy, colonialism, racism, and neoliberal capitalism, which have led to exploitation via different agreements and policies".

= Body Mapping

= Body mapping is a methodological approach grounded in the theory of cuerpo-territorio. Its methods center the body as a source of information. It is held as a decolonial methodology as it seeks to counter traditional Euro-centric research methods that heavily rely on written language via interviews, focus groups, and survey responses. In contrast to these Western methods, body mapping provides a safe, trauma informed way to feel and communicate the emotions and sensations related to bodily experiences. It has been framed by decolonial feminist scholars as a tool for self-empowerment and collective meaning making. Body mapping creates a physical representation through drawing of the body and the violences it has suffered. This mapping overlays territorial conflicts onto the body to understand them from a corporeal and subjective perspective. Researcher Delmy Tania Cruz Hernández provides a concrete example in her book, recounting the story of a survivor of the Acteal massacre who, after the tragedy, drew a red cross over the heart in her mapping, leaving the rest of the body blank due to trauma. Thus, mapping becomes a form of resistance, concretizing the repercussions of territorial exploitation on bodies. Body mapping methods often include some variation of the following steps: # Collectively creating a shared space of safety and support. This step often is used to build trust between participants and between participants and the researchers. For some projects, this includes crafting an ethics protocol together that outlines how they want to engage with each other, the space, and the final research output. # Perform a sensory group exercise to ground into the body and recognize them as full of life, feelings, memories and emotions. # An explanation of ''cuerpo territorio.'' # Participants help each other trace an outline of their silhouette on a body-sized piece of paper. # Participants then reflect on a series of questions asked by the researchers related to the topic, while participants answer them via writing, drawing, and creating in whatever form they like on the drawing of their body as a response. Each person then has their own unique body territory map. # Participants then may be asked to describe the meaning of their finished map. # Many projects emphasize that while maps are individual reflections of experience, a key aspect of the methodology is the sharing of their stories in community. Correlations, compassion, and larger shared themes are revealed, creating a process of collective meaning making.

Agua Territorio

The concept of "''Agua Territorio"'' - Water-Body-Territory is used to describe the material and symbolic link between natural resources, women's bodies and land, deriving from the rural communities in Latin America, especially in the Andes, both in Chile and in Argentina, where water has been the blood of their territories. It is a concept that is used in decolonial ecofeminisim, political ecology and critical geographies. Latin American decolonial thinking in critical geography and political ecology serves to think of the embodiment of collective death and further debates on collective bodily autonomy. Lobos Castro argues that the historical and structural dispossession of water in Chile - accelerated by Chile’s Water Code of 1981 with water as a common good began to fade - has produced an ecological and personal harm. This includes contamination, reduced access to water for subsistence agriculture, and exposure to toxic agrochemicals. Despite these challenges women in Chile developed "re-existences": practices of resistance and resilience that include reclaiming ancestral knowledge, cultivating communal solidarity, and defending local ecosystems. These actions reassert their connection to the land and their agency over environmental and social conditions. The concept of agua terrritorio emphasizes the gendered nature of environmental conflicts and the importance of integrating women's voices and experiences in struggles for ecological justice and territorial autonomy.

Common misconceptions

Essentialism debate

In the 1980s and 1990s, critics challenged the political radicalism of ecofeminism by claiming it was ' essentialist'. Ecofeminists were seen to be reinforcing patriarchal norms of domination by emphasising links between women and nature. Poststructuralist and some Third wave feminists in particular, saw essentialism as grouping all women under one inferior category, so enforcing the very societal norms that feminism tries to break from. For the problem is that traditionally, just as 'feminine' qualities are seen as less worthy, nature and the animal world is also judged of 'lesser value' than what masculinist patriarchal cultures define as 'humanity proper'. Meanwhile, ecofeminists were opposing liberal or 'equality' feminisms on the basis that mainstream political institutions are unconsciously masculinist - both sex/gender exclusionary and destructive of the environment. In an interview, ecofeminist Noel Sturgeon pointed out that what the anti-essentialists failed to recognise is a political strategy used to mobilize large and diverse groups of women, theorists and activists alike. Additionally, Charlene Spretnak characterized ecofeminism as concerned with a wide agenda, including reproductive technology, equal pay and equal rights, toxic pollution,

Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...

development, and more. Norie Ross Singer emphasized that ecofeminism should be understood as advancing multiple axes of identity such as gender, race, and class as inter-meshed in human-nonhuman relationships. A. E. Kings identified this analysis as fundamentally ' intersectional'. Vegetarian ecofeminists have contributed to intersectional analysis as well, by joining a political focus on

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

with activism for all oppressed life forms, including laboring men. While the theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether rejected

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...

, she argued that spirituality and activism can combine effectively in ecofeminism. On the other hand, social ecologist Janet Biehl criticized ecofeminism for what she saw as a

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight ...

reading of women and nature with not enough attention to the actual conditions of women’s lives. Biehl judged ecofeminism an anti-progressive movement for women. In the 21st century, some ecofeminists aware of these criticisms began renaming their work under other labels - like 'queer ecologies', 'global feminist

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has gene ...

', or '

and the environment'. Today the majority of ecofeminist thinkers and activists recognize both culturally constructed and embodied sex/gender differences. Moreover, socialist ecofeminists have always situated gender roles in a political economic framework, arguing for a radical materialist politics. Socialist feminists show clearly that women’s supposed intrinsic connection with nature is a socially constructed ideology. As Ariel Salleh has pointed out, the anxiety over essentialism was mostly found among North American liberal and postmodern feminist academics. In Europe and the global South, the interplay of class, race, gender and species dominations and exploitations is grounded in a materialist analysis of socio-economic relations.

Miscellaneous criticisms

Environmental justice and feminist care ethics have pushed for participation of all marginalized groups, working against

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

ageism Ageism, also called agism in American English, is a type of discrimination based on one's age, generally used to refer to age-based discrimination against Old age, elderly people. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe this ...

ableism Ableism (; also known as ablism, disablism (British English), anapirophobia, anapirism, and disability discrimination) is discrimination and social prejudice against physically or mentally disabled people. Ableism characterizes people as they a ...

. Andrew Charles points out that people with disabilities still face issues of access and representation in policy making. He suggests that the nurturing aspect of ecofeminism might be patronizing to marginalized groups. Likewise, a radical white savior complex could disrupt the self-advocacy of racially marginalized peoples around the world. Catia Faria argues against the ecofeminist view that the main harm to non-human animals in the wild comes from patriarchal culture. It follows, she argues, that it is mistaken to argue that the conservation of nature is the best solution here. Instead, she contends, natural processes themselves are a source of immense suffering for wild animals and that we should work towards alleviating the harms they experience, as well as eliminating patriarchal sources of harm, such as

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

Theorists

* Judi Bari – Bari was a principal organizer of the

Earth First! Earth First! is a radical environmentalism, radical Environmental movement, environmental advocacy group that originated in the Southwestern United States. It was founded in 1980 by Dave Foreman, Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, Bart Koehler, and Ron K ...

movement and experienced sexist hostility. * Françoise d'Eaubonne – Called upon women to lead an ecological revolution in order to save the planet. This entailed revolutionizing gender relations and human relations with the natural world. * Greta Gaard – Gaard is an American ecofeminist scholar and activist. Her major contributions to the field connect ideas of

queer theory Queer theory is a field of post-structuralist critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of queer studies (formerly often known as gay and lesbian studies) and women's studies. The term "queer theory" is broadly associated with the study a ...

, vegetarianism, and animal liberation. Her major theories include ecocriticism which works to include

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

and composition to inform ecofeminism and other feminist theories to address a wider range of social issues within ecofeminism. She is an ecological activist and leader in the U.S. Green Party, and the Green Movement. * Susan Griffin - A radical feminist philosopher, essayist and playwright particularly known for her innovative, hybrid-form ecofeminist works. A Californian, she taught as an adjunct professor at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

as well as at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and California Institute of Integral Studies. * Ana Isla – Sociologist from Peru, member of Capitalism Nature Socialism ecofeminist editorial collective. * Vanessa Lemgruber – Lemgruber is a Brazilian lawyer, writer, activist, and ecofeminist. She defends the Doce river in Brazil and advocates for

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

and zero waste movements. * Sallie McFague – A prominent ecofeminist

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, McFague uses the metaphor of God's body to represent the universe at large. This metaphor values inclusive, mutualistic and interdependent relations amongst all things. * Carolyn Merchant – Historian of science who taught at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

for many years. Her book ''The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology and the Scientific Revolution'' is a classic ecofeminist text. * Mary Mellor – UK sociologist who moved to ecofeminist ideas from an interest in

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

s. Her books ''Breaking the Boundaries'' and her later book ''Feminism and Ecology'' are grounded in a materialist analysis. * Maria Mies – Mies is a German social critic who has been involved in feminist work throughout

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

. She works particularly on the intersections of patriarchy,

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

, and the environment on a local and global scale. * Adrian Parr – A cultural and environmental theorist. She has published eight books and numerous articles on environmental activism, feminist new materialism, and imagination. Most notable is her trilogy ''Hijacking Sustainability''. See also: ''The Wrath of Capital'', and ''Birth of a New Earth''. * Val Plumwood – Val Plumwood, formerly Val Routley, was an Australian ecofeminist intellectual and activist, who was prominent in the development of radical ecosophy from the early 1970s through the remainder of the 20th century. In her work ''Feminism and the Mastery of Nature'' she describes the relationship of mankind and the environment relating to an eco-feminist ideology. * Alicia Puleo – The author of several books and articles on ecofeminism and gender inequality, Alicia Puleo has been characterized as "arguably Spain's most prominent explicator-philosopher of the worldwide movement or theoretical orientation known as ecofeminism." * Rosemary Radford Ruether – Has written 36 books and over 600 articles exploring the intersections of feminism, theology, and creation care. Ruether was the first person to connect the domination of the earth with the oppression of women. * Ariel Salleh – Australian ecofeminist with a global perspective; a founding editor of the journal '' Capitalism Nature Socialism''; author of four books and some 300 articles examining ecofeminist links with deep and social ecology, green politics and eco-socialism, digitalisation and decoloniality. * Vandana Shiva – Shiva is a scientist by training, prolific author and Indian ecofeminist activist. She was a participant in the Chipko movement of the 1970s, which used non-violent activism to protest and prevent

in the Garhwal

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

, India, then in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. Her fight against genetically modified organisms (GMOs) (together with the fights led by Rachel Carson against DDT and Erin Brockovich against

hexavalent chromium Hexavalent chromium (chromium(VI), Cr(VI), chromium 6) is any chemical compound that contains the element chromium in the +6 oxidation state (thus hexavalent). It has been identified as carcinogenic, which is of concern since approximately of ...

) has been described as an example of ecofeminist position. * Charlene Spretnak – Spretnak is an American writer largely known for her writing on ecology, politics and spirituality. Through these writings Spretnak has become a prominent ecofeminist. She has written many books which discuss ecological issues in terms of effects with social criticisms, including feminism. Spretnak's works had a major influence in the development of the Green Party. She has also won awards based on her visions on ecology and social issues as well as feminist thinking.Charlene Spretnak, "The Early Years of the Green Movement in the United States", in Zelko and Brinkmann, eds., ''Green Parties'', p. 48. * Starhawk – An American writer and activist, Starhawk is known for her work in spiritualism and ecofeminism. She advocates for

in issues surrounding nature and spirit. These social justice issues fall under the scope of feminism and ecofeminism. She believes in fighting oppression through intersectionality and the importance of spirituality, eco consciousness and sexual and gender liberation.see Starhawk * Douglas Vakoch – An American ecocritic whose edited volumes include ''Ecofeminism and Rhetoric: Critical Perspectives on Sex, Technology, and Discourse'' (2011), ''Feminist Ecocriticism: Environment, Women, and Literature'' (2012), ''Dystopias and Utopias on Earth and Beyond: Feminist Ecocriticism of Science Fiction'' (2021), ''Ecofeminist Science Fiction: International Perspectives on Gender, Ecology, and Literature'' (2021), ''The Routledge Handbook of Ecofeminism and Literature'' (2023), (with Nicole Anae) ''Indian Feminist Ecocriticism'' (2022), and (with Sam Mickey) ''Ecofeminism in Dialogue'' (2018), ''Literature and Ecofeminism: Intersectional and International Voices'' (2018), and ''Women and Nature?: Beyond Dualism in Gender, Body, and Environment'' (2018). * Karen J. Warren – Warren received her B.A. in philosophy from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

(1970) and her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1978. Before her long tenure at Macalester College, which began in 1985, Warren was Professor of Philosophy at St. Olaf College in the early 1980s. Warren was the Ecofeminist-Scholar-in-Residence at

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its ...

in Australia. In 2003, she served as an

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

Round Table Scholar and as Women's Chair in Humanistic Studies at Marquette University in 2004. She has spoken widely on environmental issues, feminism,

critical thinking Critical thinking is the process of analyzing available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to make sound conclusions or informed choices. It involves recognizing underlying assumptions, providing justifications for ideas and actions, ...

and peace studies in many international locations including

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, the U.N. Earth Summit in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

(1992), and San Jose.

References

External links

Ecofeminism: Toward global justice and planetary health
Feminist Greta Gaard and Lori Gruen's ecofeminist framework
"An Ecology of Knowledge: Feminism, Ecology and the Science and Religion Discourse"
Metanexus Institute by Lisa Stenmark
"Ecofeminism and the Democracy of Creation"
by Catherine Keller (2005); cf. Carol P. Christ, "Ecofeminism", in Michel Weber and Will Desmond (eds.),
Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought
', Frankfurt / Lancaster, ontos verlag, 2008, pp. 87–98.
"Toward a Queer Ecofeminism"
by Greta Gaard
Feminism and ecology: the same struggle? – The shaping of ecofeminism
by Marijke Colle
Feminist Environmental Philosophy
by Karen Warren
What is Ecofeminism?
Perlego Books {{Authority control 1974 neologisms Articles containing video clips Environmental humanities Environmental movements Environmental social science concepts Environmentalism Feminism and health Feminism and history Feminist movements and ideologies Feminist theory Green politics Left-wing politics Liberalism Political ecology Progressivism Relational ethics Social justice

Worldwide activism

Early texts

Gendering nature

Conceptual approaches

Materialist ecofeminism

Spiritual and cultural ecofeminism

Ecofeminism in Latin America

Cuerpo Territorio

= Body Mapping

Agua Territorio

Common misconceptions

Essentialism debate

Miscellaneous criticisms

Theorists

See also

References

Further reading

Key works

Anthologies

Journal articles

Fiction

Poetry

External links