A deeper characterization of Ecofeminism

Source: http://sustyvibes.com/the-meaning-of-ecofeminism/

Just as there is not one feminism, there is not one ecofeminism."Ecological feminism is the name given to a variety of positions thathave roots in different feminist practices and philosophies. Thesedifferent perspectives reflect not only different feministperspectives (e.g., liberal, traditional Marxist, radical, socialist,black and Third World), they also reflect different understandings ofthe nature of and solution to pressing environmental problems (seeWarren 1987). So, it is an open question how many, which, and on whatgrounds any of the various positions in environmental philosophy thatacknowledge feminist concerns or claim to be feminist are properlyidentified as ecofeminist positions. What one takes to be a genuineecofeminist position will depend largely on how one conceptualizesboth feminism and ecofeminism.

For instance, suppose by "feminism" one means "liberal feminism."Liberal feminism builds on a Western liberal political andphilosophical framework that idealizes a society in which autonomousindividuals are provided maximal freedom to pursue their owninterests. There are two main ecological indications of liberalfeminism: the first draws the line of moral considerability athumans, separating humans from nonhumans and basing any claims tomoral consideration of nonhumans either on the alleged rights orinterests of humans, or on the consequences of such consideration forhuman well-being. The second extends the line of moralconsiderability to qualified nonhumans on the grounds that they aredeserving of moral consideration in their own right: they, too, arerational, sentient, interest-carriers, right-holders.

Is either liberal feminist ecological implication acceptable froman ecofeminist perspective? It depends, in part, on what one means by"ecofeminism." Many ecofeminists have argued that insofar as liberalfeminism keeps intact oppressive and patriarchal ways ofconceptualizing nature, including problematic human-naturedichotomies of the sort dlscussed by all four authors in thissection, it will be inadequate from an ecofeminist perspective.

Take another construal of feminism: traditional Marxist feminism.Traditional Marxist feminism views the oppression of women as a kindof class oppression, a direct result of the institution of classsociety and, under capitalism, private property. Since praxis (i.e., conscious physical labor of humans directed at transformingthe material world to meet human needs) is the distinguishingcharacteristic of humans, traditional Marxist feminism, followingtraditional Marxism, would seem to suggest that the primary value ofnature is its instrumental value in the production of economic goodsto meet human needs.

Is traditional Marxism fertile soil for ecofeminism? Again, itdepends, in part, on what one means by ecofeminism. If ecofeminism isa position that recognizes that nature has value in addition to itsuse value to humans, or if ecofeminism asserts that more thangender-sensitive class analyses are needed to explain theinterwoven dominations of women and nature, then traditional Marxistfeminism will be inadequate from an ecofeminist perspective.

Consider one last example. A radical feminist construal offeminism departs from both liberal feminism and traditional Marxistfeminism by rooting women's oppression in reproductive biology andsex-gender systems. According to radical feminists, patriarchy(i.e., the systematic oppression of women by men) subordinates womenin sex-specific ways by defining women as beings whose primaryfunctions are either to bear and raise children or to satisfy malesexual desires. The liberation of women requires the dismantaling ofpatriarchy, particularly male control of women's bodies.
Is radical feminism ecofeminist? While radical feministshistorically have had the most to say about ecofeminism, sometimesclaiming that "women are closer to nature than men," someecofeminists have worried about the extent to which radical feminismboth mystifies women's experiences by locating women closer to naturethan men, and offers ahistorically essentialist accounts of "women'sexperiences." Furthermore, some ecofeminists worry that any view thatmakes any group of humans closer to nature than any other isconceptually flawed and methodologically suspect: it maintains justthe sort of value dualistic and hierarchical thinking that iscritiqued by ecofeminism (see Griscom 1981; Roach 1991; Warren 1987).Hence the extent to which radical feminism is an adequate theoreticalbasis for ecofeminism will depend partly on what one takes to be thedefining characteristics of ecofeminism.

What, then, can one say about ecofeminism? What characterizesecofeminism as a theoretical position and political movement? Despiteimportant differences among ecofeminists and the feminisms from whichthey gain their inspiration, there is something all ecofeministsagree about; such agreement provides a minimal condition account ofecofeminism: there are important connections between the dominationof women and the domination of nature, an understanding of which iscrucial to feminism, environmentalism, and environmental philosophy(Warren 1987). A main project of ecofeminism is to make visible these"woman-nature connections" and, where harmful to women andnature, to dismantle them.

If woman-nature connections are the backbone ofecofeminism, just what are they? And why is the alleged existence ofthese connections claimed to be so significant?