CHAPTER 1: THE GENDER-ENVIRONMENT NEXUS


In the 1970s some of the earliest “ecofeminist” writ- ing constructed powerful narratives about women’s deep connection to nature and the environment, often with a strong spiritual grounding (Griffin 1978; Dia- mond and Orenstein 1990). While ecofeminism locat- ed women at the centre of the environmental agenda, much of this writing has been criticized for presenting a largely mythical and essentialized representation of women (Gaard 2011; Leach 2007; Sturgeon 1997). Women were often portrayed as more vulnerable than men with respect to environmental challenges, and at the same time as innate protectors of and carers for the environment, – sometimes without adequate con- sideration of the historical, economic, social, political and cultural factors that shape these vulnerabilities and roles. Such representations resurface repeatedly, as women continue to be inappropriately portrayed as innate stewards and nurturers of nature (Leach 2007; Jackson 1993).


Internationally, women’s peace movements that gath- ered force in the 1970s and 1980s synthesized con- cerns about sustainability, environmental protection, environmental health and women’s equality. One of the best known of these was the Greenham Women’s Peace Camp in the United Kingdom. In 1981, a group from Wales, “Women for Life on Earth”, marched 125 miles to the Greenham Common air force base in Berk- shire, England, to protest the siting of nuclear capable cruise missiles there (Kidron 2013; Stead 2006). The participants’ letter to the base commander (“We fear for the future of all our children and for the future of the living world which is the basis of all life”) empha- sized their environmental concerns (Greenham Com- mon Women’s Peace Camp n.d.). The Greenham Com- mon protest inspired other peace camps in the United


Kingdom and elsewhere. People from many countries visited it, including Pacific island women who had ex- perienced atomic bomb tests and who encouraged the Greenham Common women to adopt an anti-racist, anti-colonial stance (Kirk n.d.). The Greenham Com- mon Women’s Peace Camp remained active until 2000.


Other powerful community-based environmental movements in which women have played a major part have set the stage for ambitious and deep-root- ed transformational approaches. In India the Chipko movement to protect forests essential for community livelihoods against destructive logging began in 1973 (Jain n.d.). The work of Indian scientist and environ- mental activist Vandana Shiva, including on food sov- ereignty and biodiversity conservation, has had a global impact (Shiva 2016a; Shiva 2016b). In Kenya, the Green Belt Movement launched by Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai (Maathai 2003) has planted over 51 million trees. These movements are not only symbols of wom- en’s environmental agency, but have helped broaden conceptions of the gender-and-environment nexus.


Indigenous peoples in many parts of the world have protested (and continue to protest) against damage to their lands and health (UN 2014; OHCHR 2013). For example, Navajo activists in the United States have de- manded justice and compensation for exposures to the environmental and health effects of uranium mining (US EPA 2016; US DOJ 2015; Brugge and Goble 2002). Indigenous women are in the forefront of adaptation activism on climate change in Papua New Guinea, en- vironmental activism against dams in the Philippines, demanding accountability for damage from extractive industries in Indonesia, and Ecuador, among many oth- er places (Cimons 2016; Tauli-Corpuz 2015).


The Chipko Movement in India Photo credit: © Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement Photo credit: © Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com; Vandana Shiva, food sovereignty and biodiversity activist Photo credit: © www.navdanya.org


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