Feminist Political Ecology Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Feminist p olitical ecology represents the most recent movement to advocate for the equality of women in political, social, and economic settings, and for a substantial change in the recognition of women’s role in society. Historical examples in this ongoing struggle point to Aristophanes’ study of the strong feminist assertiveness in Lysistrata, the 19th century writings of Charlotte Bronte, and early feminist advocates like Emmeline Pankhurst, who worked to undo the political aspects of female subjugation and to bring about female suffrage.

A more activist and militant thrust to the struggle ensued with feminist movement, whose champions stated unequivocally that the social system was replete with blatant sexism. Books by Germaine Greer (The Female Eunuch) and Kate Millett (Sexual Politics) in the 1970s articulated the existence of social structures that guaranteed the oppression of women in psychological and biological ways.

Feminist political ecology uses gender as the codifying variable in its struggle for sustainable socioeconomic and political development in the quickly changing era of globalization. The field takes positions and concepts from a number of different feminist movements that have evolved over the past several decades. Among these are ecofeminism, feminist associations with environmentalism, feminist aspects of post-structuralism, and socialist feminism. Studies conducted in feminist political ecology avoid the context in which women are separate from the topical investigation underway. That is, in studies focusing on rural development, inputs of information from both women and men are solicited.

Both are considered as agents of change in efforts to maintain their locales and in making decisions about resource use, health care systems, and the sustainability of the place. Feminist political ecology considers that gender differences derive from differences in cultural and racial views of women and not from purely biological differences. This view especially distinguishes feminist political ecology from ecofeminism, which, in the jargon of the field, tends to “essentialize” and consequently “decontextualize” women.

As related in the edited book Feminist Political Ecology feminist political ecology uses an activist approach in striving to create and maintain healthy environments, manage resources, ensure just decisions in property disputes, and in working toward the elimination of environmental degradation. In all of these efforts, a form of “gender knowledge” prevails. In one example, a community objected to the location of a proposed sewage treatment plant in close proximity to a children’s playground. The decision to relocate the plant was based on the insistence primarily of women in the community that the sewage plant would be potentially injurious to the human health.

Another example where feminist political ecology brought about needed change centers on the conflict between colonial rules in Kenya and the alienation of women from taking full part in the economic system. The application of gender knowledge to this situation has brought about changes in this situation and a departure from the earlier system of male dominance in, and feminine exclusion from, the economic system. A further example from a Himalayan agriculture community illustrates how land ownership rights favor males and place women in a dependency role. As a consequence of this gender inequity women became marginalized and excluded from agricultural decision-making, which adversely affected the stability of the agricultural system.

In their attempts to derive theory to bolster the position of feminist political ecology, its advocates point to a number of generalizations to support the effort. These include the fact of interconnectedness at all levels of the global ecosystem and the need for equitable gender power sharing in decision-making about the environment. Neither male-dominated nor female-dominated approaches are appropriate. Implicit in the feminist ecological conceptual base is the belief that technology should not be used to dominate nature.

In addition, there is the recognition that particular cultural biases can skew access to knowledge and management of the environment. Decisions about development tend toward the direction of one gender or the other, and nearly always toward the male. The ultimate theoretical position defining feminist political ecology will certainly reflect that gender knowledge is integral to any set of power relationships that exist in political, social, and economic contexts from local to global.

Bibliography:

Judith Lorber, Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics (Roxbury Publishing Company, 2005);
Wendy Kolmar and Frances Bartkowski, Feminist Theory: A Reader (McGraw-Hill, 2003);
Dianne Rocheleau, Barbara Thomas-Slayter and Esther Wangari, , Feminist Political Ecology: Global Issues and Local Experiences, (Routledge, 1996);
World Survey on the Role of Women in Development, 2004: Women and International Migration (United Nations Publications, 2004);
Karen Dias and Jennifer Blecha, “Feminism and Social Theory in Geography: An Introduction,” The Professional Geographer (v.59/1, February 2007).