A presentation on.

Sharifa sultana , department od women and gender

studies , university of Dhaka

Ecofeminism believes that the emancipation of women can be possible by the protection of eco-system because the mankind are inter related not only with

each other but also with the nature and environment.

 At first in 1974,the French feminist Fancoise de Eaubonne expressed

the word Ecofeminism in the book named Femenism ou la Mort.

She showed the direct link between the oppression towards women

and nature.
Later, Karen J. Warren said that Patriarchy is responsible for the

miserable condition of women and nature.

Karen presented the theory: Naturalization of Women and

Feminization of Nature.

 According to Karen J. Warren:

There are important connections between the oppression of nature.

Understanding the nature of these connections is necessary to any

adequate understanding of the oppression of women and nature.

Feminist theory and practice must include a feminist perspective.
Solutions to ecological problems must include a feminist perspective.

 To rescue both women and nature from the torture of patriarchy some ethics are

suggested:
Antinaturist rejecting any way of thinking about or acting toward non human

nature that reflects a relationship to the logic, values or attitude of domination

Conceptualist emphasizing human beings relationships to non human nature

instead of stressing human beings rights over or duties to nonhuman nature.

Recognizing the differences among humans as well as the differences between

human and non humans.

 Inclusivist.

Subjectively biased, identifying patriarchal conceptual frameworks such as the

female-male and nature-culture splits as the fundamental cause of naturism and sexism, both of which are wrong.
Attentive to and appreciate of traditionally feminine values. Instead of recognizing humans as creatures who are dependent on the

environment and whose essence is no less material and earthy than it is

spiritual and other worthy.

Francoise d Eaubonne
French feminist

Born on 12 March 1920 in Paris

Introduced the term ecofeminism in 1974 in

her book Le fminisme ou la mort

Died on 3 August 2005 in Paris

 Born on November 5, 1952, India Environmental activist, author and ecofeminist

Main focus- exploitation of women and nature

through capitalist development in science Famous publications:
Staying alive Ecofeminism (with Maria Mies)

Awards:
Right Livelihood Award, 1993. Save The World Award, 2009 Sydney Peace Prize, 2010

 Born on September 10, 1947 in USA Author, scholar and philosopher

Main focus- Connections between the subordination of women and subordination of the environment. Publications:

Ecofeminist Philosophy: A Western Perspective on What It Is and Why It Matters (2000)

An Unconventional History of Western Philosophy:

Conversations Between Men and Women Philosophers

 Born on 11 August 1939

Australian ecofeminist, intellectual and activist.

Main focus- male female dualism as self and other and its relationship to the domination of nature

Major publications:
Feminism and the Mastery of Nature (1993 ) Environmental Culture: the Ecological Crisis of

Reason (2002 )
Died on 28 February 2008

 Born on 1960 in USA Ecofeminist writer, scholar, activist, and documentary

filmmaker
Main focus:

Feminist insights to the fields of ecocriticism and ecocomposition Ecofeminist theory with linkage to Queer theory and ecofeminist ideas concerning vegetarianism and animal liberation. Ecological Politics Ecofeminist Literary Criticism: Theory, Interpretation, Pedagogy Ecocomposition: Theoretical and Practical Approaches Ecofeminism: Women, Animals, Nature

Major publications:

 Maria Mies

Rosemary Radford Ruether

Catherine Keller

 Starhawk

Mary Grey

Syeda Rizwana Hasan

Born on 15 January 1968

Chief executive of BELA Awards:
Goldman Environmental Prize, 2009 Ramon Magsaysay Award, 2012

The Inaugural Environment Award, 2007

Celebrating Womanhood Award, 2008

Contributor in:
Ship breaking industry
Judicial activism to achieve peoples right to a good environment Support tribal women to save Modhupur forest in Tangail

Publications:
Laws Regulating Environment in Bangladesh Judicial Decisions on Environment

 Ecofeminism emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as

myriad forms of feminist and environmental theories and activisms intersected .

Some theorists, such as Ynestra King, name it as a

third wave of feminism, while others place it in the general category of deep ecology. Ecofeminism acts in both and neither of these broad movements, simultaneously serving as an environmental critique of feminism and a feminist critique of environmentalism

 Val Plumwood:

women should not to reject the en-soi and should get

the opportunity to control or dominate the nature as men. She criticized Simon De Beauvoir Sherry B. Othner: Virtually every culture believed that women are closer to nature for three reasons: Psychological involment Domestic context Mothering characteristics

 Susan Griffin:

The relationship need to be strengthen rather weaken The relationship between women and nature are undervalued The connection with nature Women should hold the responsibly to bring out the human being from the dualistic world.

 Rosemary Radford Routher:

In one of the first ecofeminist books, New Woman/New Earth, Ruether, states:

Women must see that there can be no liberation for them and no solution to the ecological crisis within a society whose fundamental model of relationships continues to be one of domination. They must unite the demands of the womens movement with those of the ecological movement to envision a radical reshaping of the basic socioeconomic relations and the underlying values of this [modern industrial] society (204).

Karen J. Warren: Naturalized and feminized Nature as She Able to relate with nonhumans things. Vandana Shiva: Women more than men are involved with the elements of environment .She found three concept regarding this connections.

 In Hindi, chipko means, to embrace. The

Chipko Movement in India became one of the most successful environmental activism struggles in the world. Vandana Shiva was one of the women involved in this movement, which resisted industrial forestry and logging in rural India. Local women physically put their bodies between the machinery and the forest that provided their livelihoodliterally hugging the trees (Callicott, 218). The largest success of the Chipko movement was convincing Indira Gandhi, Indias prime minister in 1981, to declare a fifteen-year moratorium on logging in the Himalayan forests in Uttar Pradesh (Callicott, 218).

 Wangari Maathai's formation of the

Green Belt Movement in Kenya in which rural women planted trees as part of a soil conservation effort to avert desertification of their land; Lois Gibbs' exposure of Love Canal as a toxic waste site, and her founding of the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste to share tactical skills with local environmental groups.

Because there are so many varieties of ecofeminism, no general critique is applicable.

Ecofeminism results from its lack of clarity as a theory.

The cleavages between the differing types of ecofeminism leave the overall theory full of holes. ecofeminism, in its attempt to academicidise itself, seems to have become stuck in the clouds of theoretical debate.

 Centuries of negative cultural baggage cant be cast off

by passionate reclaiming alone.

Spiritual aspects of ecofeminism were heavily

criticized as anti-intellectual by some in the early. For example- romantic notions of women as protectors of gaia (mother earth) No linkage between activist and theorist.

 Failed to embrace diversity amongst women. Created divisions between the north and the south by

giving priority to the ethnic or racial division. International platform A term of identity that may unite these groups at conferences, in books, and in the popular press, but does not create uniform commitment to a uniform mission.

 Human beings are connected to nonhuman world Acknowledge the relationships and responsibilities to them Stop violence to nature to protect our self interest Transformative-socialist ecofeminists are busy in

eliminating the blights that brown the earth

 Tong, R. P. Feminist thought, 1998, Westview Press:

USA Mies, M. & Shiva, V. (eds) Ecofeminism (1993), London: ZED Books Islam, M. naribadi chinta o narijibon, 2002, Dhaka: JK press and publication.