Introduction
Coined by French feminist Françoise d’Eaubonne in 1974, ecofeminism is an intersectional political and social ideology that posits that the patriarchal subjugation of women and the capitalist exploitation of nature share identical structural roots of domination. It critiques dominant anthropocentric and patriarchal paradigms, emphasizing that ecological sustainability cannot be achieved without addressing systemic gender inequality.
Core Schools of Ecofeminist Thought
Ecofeminist scholarship is multifaceted, encompassing divergent theoretical perspectives regarding the nature of women's relationship with the environment:
- Cultural Ecofeminism: Thinkers such as Vandana Shiva (in Staying Alive) posit an inherent, spiritual, and nurturing affinity between women and nature (Prakriti). This school critiques patriarchal modernity and mechanistic science for reducing nature and female life-giving capacities to commodified resources, advocating for a resurgence of feminine principles of reciprocity and care.
- Materialist and Socialist Ecofeminism: Theorists such as Maria Mies and Ariel Salleh reject biological essentialism. They ground women's environmental consciousness in the material reality of capitalist patriarchy, arguing that women's proximity to nature arises from their structurally assigned roles in unpaid social reproductive work, caretaking, and subsistence economies.
Theoretical Evolution: Feminist Environmentalism
Scholars have sought to move beyond the essentialist pitfalls of early cultural ecofeminism by developing more grounded analytical frameworks:
- Material Reality of Labour: Bina Agarwal conceptualises Feminist Environmentalism, critiquing cultural ecofeminism for romanticizing an innate spiritual connection. She demonstrates that female environmental mobilization—such as during the Chipko Movement—is driven by the gendered division of labour, where women bear the brunt of collecting fuel, fodder, and water for daily survival.
- Structural and Environmental Vulnerability: Degradation of communal natural resources directly impacts women's livelihood security and time poverty, turning environmental preservation into a struggle for basic socio-economic survival rather than an abstract ecological or metaphysical pursuit.
Conclusion
By systematically linking ecological destruction with gendered vulnerability, ecofeminism provides an indispensable theoretical foundation for modern climate justice. It underscores that equitable climate governance, in alignment with Sustainable Development Goals 5 (Gender Equality) and 13 (Climate Action), necessitates dismantling both patriarchal hierarchies and unsustainable exploitative economic models.