Tag: Ecofeminism

A DISCOURSE ON ECO-FEMINISM

Ecofeminism is a concept, a movement bringing out the relationship between women and nature. It claims that both the women and nature have been overexploited by patriarchy and the culture. However, it in no way flows in one single course, with the basic concept, it has many dimensions to it and many proponents and variations to it as well. The relationship between women and nature, as constructed by various scholars, is based on three claims – ‘Empirical’, ‘Conceptual’ and ‘Epistemological’ in nature (Sharnappa, 2016). The first claim which is empirical in nature relates socio-economic and political poverty of women with the destruction of nature. It has been observed that the women are the firsthand victim of consequence of destruction of environment – given the dependency of women on nature. The conceptual claim brings out the “hierarchy and dualism” on which society is structured. It throws light on ‘patriarchy’ as the root cause of domination of women and exploitation of nature. The third claim, epistemological in character, focuses on the knowledge of nature which women possess more when compared to any other. Being the humans residing in the rural areas more while men migrating for other works, they have been agrarian cultivators, thus, possessing more knowledge regarding the sustenance of nature.

The Eco-feminism has been documented well in the western world; however, it doesn’t mean that it didn’t exist in the other part. The theory of eco-feminism has evolved over the years and the socio-economic as well as the political concerns of the region has influenced its course. For instance, the differences in the ‘Western Eco-Feminist Discourse’ and ‘Indian Ecofeminist Discourse’ have been brought out by many. The basic departure in the conceptualization of ecofeminism is related to the emphasis on the kind of environmental crisis (Sharnappa, 2016). It has been pointed out that while ecofeminism in the West has emphasised on the direct impact of science and technology on the nature and the consequent impact on women, ecofeminist discourse in India has more or less revolved around the threat to traditional methods of production and subsistence since majority of population still depends on it. The threat that has been taken into account pertains to the building of dams, industrialization, impact of logging. So, the scholars have pointed out that the environment crisis in India revolves around the attempt to reduce the impact of such threats on the victims, generally the peasants.

The exploitation of women, especially the peasants has been stressed by many scholars. Vandana Shiva, one of the pioneers of eco-feminism movement in India focuses on this aspect – the way in which technological development has robbed many peasants, especially women of the ‘third world’ of their traditional practices. She believes that “only path to survival and liberation for women is an ecological one of harmony, sustainability, diversity, as opposed to domination, exploitation and surplus”. Bina Agarwal, an Indian Economist and also one of the critiques of ecofeminist’ arguments, too, provides three-fold explanation to why women are most affected – highlighting the class-gender dimensions to the effect of environmental degradation. She asserts that given the pre-existing gendered division of labour, women in the poor households are worse hit. The disparities in the distribution of ‘sustainable resources’ (for e.g., healthcare) which actually deprive women to access the basics, adds to the burden. Furthermore, the women also have limited rights to private properties, access to employment opportunities and others which only aggravates the plight. She asserts that due to the exploitation and destruction of the nature, women have to work longer in order to gather woods; have to walk longer distance to access to water and the caste factor only adds to the woes; becoming more prone to water-borne disease or the un-healthy environment are some of the effect. Given these conditions and their condition in the labour markets well as their position in accessing the resources and basics, women, especially those of lower caste bear and face the most severe outcome of the exploitation of nature.

The assumptions and principles of ecofeminism has its own share of constructive criticism and variations to it. Bina Agarwal, while critiquing ecofeminists’ argument puts forward a different argument, or say perspective than those of Shiva’s. She contests that ecofeminism does not cover the structure in its entirety. She argues that ecofeminism sees women as a single entity – ‘in unitary’, it does not see her in the context of differences in caste, class, race, etc. Furthermore, it also does not take into account the material reality of women and just interrelates the nature and women ideologically; neither it talks about how ideological shifts are caused by the dominant groups and ‘how such shifts get embedded’. Thus, at this juncture she brings in the concept of ‘feminist environmentalism’ wherein she presents the relationship between men and women rooted in material reality as well. She brings in the elements of how gender and class change the course of any discourse especially which involves women. Thus, women’s interaction with nature must be located within the material reality of caste, class and gender along with all other concerns and not just seeing her(s) as ‘unitary’.

Another point that has been raised is that ecofeminism assigns the responsibility of fighting against the environmental threat solely on women without even taking into account if the women are equipped enough for it. It thus, needs to call for sharing the responsibility between both the gender and not just on the women. The discourse, the impact of the movement should not just be confined to the saving of nature or as Bhasin said’ “clearing up the mess all the time”. It should extend to granting of rights, skill-upgradation and involvement of women in the decision-making process. Thus, in order to strengthen the force or the movement, the diversity as well the different concerns need to be taken into account.

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ECO FEMINISM IN INDIAN CONTEXT

According to Merriam-Webster, ecofeminism is a movement or a theory that applies feminist principles and ideas to ecological issues. This term was first coined by a French feminist, Francoise d’Eaubonne in her book “Le Feminisme ou la Mort” (Feminism or Death). She raised the point that patriarchy is the root cause of all ecological crisis – men’s control over women and nature have led to overpopulation and overexploitation of nature respectively. When we talk about the environmental disaster that’s taking place, the role of gender about how we can move forward comes into play.

As United Nations Environment Programme puts it, “Around the world, environmental conditions impact the lives of women and men in different ways as a result of existing inequalities. Gender roles often create differences in the ways men and women act in relation to the environment and in the ways men and women are enabled and prevented from acting as agents of environmental change”; and here comes the concept of ecofeminism.

In India, ecofeminist Vandana Shiva is the pioneer who prepared the ground for ecofeminism with a strong belief that women have always been the key to solve various societal problems and environmental problems are one of them. By highlighting their presence in the Indian literature, the nature and form of ecofeminism in India can be assessed. Literature in which the concept of ecofeminism has been taken into account ranges from early ecofeminism to the recent or the urbanized one such as ‘Nectar in a Sieve’ (1954) by Kamala Markandya, ‘Fire on the Mountain’ (1977) by Anita Desai, ‘A Riversutra’ (1993) by Gita Mehta, ‘The God of Small Things’ (1997) and ‘An Atlas of Impossible Longing’ (2008) by Arundhati Roy and ‘Monkey-Man’ (2010) by Usha K.R.

Many female Indian novelists not only explore the subjectivity that is embedded in the relationship of women and the patriarchal society but also make several social issues as the key subjects. Many of the works from twentieth century of such novelists have been regarded as effective mediums of ‘modernism and feminism’. With Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai getting hold of Booker Prizes, works of Indian women novelists have been highlighted. Indian women’s fiction on the relationship between women and the environment has added to the theory and development of ecofeminism in India.

In the West, there are large bodies of literary accounts that have analyzed ecofeminism in different ideological terms but in India, the struggle to save environment went on for long even before it was accounted in the West. It was Vandana Shiva who brought ecofeminism movements to the forefront in India with her active involvement in the Chipko Movement- wherein women wrapped themselves around trees to prevent contractors from felling them off- as a young woman. The struggle to protect the environment is believed to be the same across all communities in India but we would be at a loss in our thinking if we ignore the fact that protests against environmental damage and questions of survival and subsistence are interlinked deeply with the axiom of caste, class and gender issues.  Vandana Shiva, the pioneer in this field, critiques that modern technology which has actually reinforced the patriarchal system and violence perpetuates it towards women and nature.  According to her, switching to such a lifestyle is deviating us from the traditional lifestyle which promotes human-environment balance ‘prakriti’. Under the influence and grab of these new developments, nature has been mercilessly exploited and feminine principles in terms of the environment are no longer considered for creativity and sanctity but merely to be passive resources. Thus, though women’s knowledge of dependence on nature for subsistence has been dissipated and marginalized under the grab of modern science, she strongly believes that third world women have the power within them for causing a change. In this regard, we can cite the example of ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ in which the active participation of Medha Patkar and Arundhati Roy helped the movement gain momentum.

The issue of sustainable development to protect the environment from degrading was raised in Conference on Environment and development at Stockholm in 1974 for the first time. If we turn the pages of history, we will find instances which prove that women are better connected with nature. Since time immemorial, they have been responsible to look after households and prepare basic needs for survival and thus, are better connected to nature.

Women’s interaction and relationship with nature must be located within the material reality of caste, class and gender. Women are the victims of environmental disaster but they can also be very effective agents of environmental regeneration – as is clearly evident by the success of the Chipko Movement. The need of the hour is to mobilise them into a proper channel and to give ecofeminism a proper voice and a way so that it does not turn into a superficial shout. There is also a need to abolish the class and caste basis for an effective collective movement in India. The adverse class-caste effects on women’s relationship with nature are reflected in the erosion of indigeneous knowledge and livelihood strategies on which poor, rural women are dependent. Thus, there is a need for ecofeminism in India to strengthen itself in the face of different barriers and be more than a superficial shout.

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