Ecofeminism Around the Globe: Western and Non-Western Perspectives

How are women in the Global South affected by environmental degradation? 

• Women in the global south are victims of environmental degradation. This victimization absolutely presents as gender specific in most cultures.
  
• In the rural areas especially, of the Global South, women are responsible for the production of crops to not only feed themselves and their own families, but to sell agricultural product via local markets in an effort to contribute to household income.
• A vast majority of women in the Global South depend on nature to ensure the overall wellbeing and survival of their families. Environmental degradation negatively affects this ability. More specifically, among the poorer populations, most depend on forests and the availability of natural resources in general to sustain their survival. According to Agarwal, 30 million or more people in India alone are dependent “wholly or substantially on such forest produce for a livelihood.”
• The majority of us in Western society take accessible, clean, running water for granted. Many women in the Global South contend with dangerous journeys to fetch water, multiple times a day, only to leave them vulnerable to attack, injury, and at a disadvantage in respect to education and income, (unwater.org.) Much of which is due to deforestation, the reduction of rivers and streams, (clean water supply.) Sanitation and hygiene in much of the Global South is seen as a luxury, as opposed to the fundamental human right that it is.

Based on the understanding that there is no one ecofeminist perspective, what are the central differences and commonalities between ecofeminism from a Western perspective, and a non-Western perspective?

Western feminist perspective is not universal, and ecofeminist activists like Dr. Laura Hobgood-Oster and Dr. Vandana Shiva both denote that “Ecofeminist trajectories are varied; there is no one accepted or orthodox ‘ecofeminism'” (Hobgood-Oster, 2008.)

Both western and non-western ecofeminist perspectives are concerned with how oppression is intertwined. Both understand that environmental degradation is connected to socioeconomic status, race, gender inequality, ability, and other social justice issues. In societies structured around patriarchy, both perspectives aim to illuminate the connection between the dominance and oppression of women and human domination over nature. It is safe to say that western and non-western ecofeminist perspectives share an intersectional lens. 

Western ecofeminism is still found to rely on technology, scientific evidence and data, rationality, and logistics in order to present the case for environmental protection and the implementation of programs for sustainability.

Alternatively, indigenous knowledge systems and spiritually grounded approaches to preservation and environmental research are at the forefront of both grassroots and established movements that are rooted in a non-Western ecofeminist perspective.

“The growing literature of ecofeminism in the west, and especially in the United States, conceptualizes the link between gender and the environment primarily in ideological terms. An intensifying struggle for survival in the developing world, however, highlights the material basis for this link and sets the background for an alternative formulation of ecofeminism” (Agarwal, 119.)

Vandana Shiva divulges the commonalities and differences of ecofeminist in just a few passionate sentences during the interview, In the Footsteps of Gandhi: An Interview with Vandana Shiva:

London: You’ve said that the most critical issue confronting the world today is a dual one: the need for ecological sustainability, on the one hand, and social justice on the other. Many people, especially here in the United States, see these issues as separate and unrelated. But for you they are inextricably linked.

Shiva: Yes, for me the two are very closely linked, in part because my view of ecology comes from the margins of Indian society, from the agricultural producers who make up 70 percent of India — people who are dependent on natural resources, on biodiversity, on the land, the forests, the water. Nature is their means of production. So, for them ecological destruction is a form of injustice. When the forest is destroyed, when the river is dammed, when the biodiversity is stolen, when fields are waterlogged or turned saline because of economic activities, it is a question of survival for these people. So, our environmental movements have been justice movements.

Common goals, different perspectives.

 

Reference: Agarwal, B. (1992). The gender and environment debate: Lessons from India. Feminist Studies, 18(1), 119-158. https://doi.org/10.2307/3178217

Hobgood-Oster, L. (2002, August 18). Ecofeminism: Historic and international evolution. Southwestern University.

London, S. (2016, February 3). In the footsteps of Gandhi: An interview with Vandana Shiva. Global Research. Retrieved February 11, 2025, from https://www.globalresearch.ca/in-the-footsteps-of-gandhi-an-interview-with-vandana-shiva/5505135

United Nations (Ed.). (n.d.). Water and gender. UN Water. Retrieved February 10, 2025, from https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-and-gender