Ecofeminism: what is it and what ideas does this feminist current defend?

Ecofeminism is one of the theoretical and practical currents generated in the 70's., which pays attention to how the economic development of the dominant groups has promoted an excessive exploitation of nature and how this affects women in a special way.

It arises from something that many feminist movements question: dualisms, understood as pairs of opposites with unequal value that had originated in the patriarchal culture (for example, body-mind, nature-culture, scientific knowledge-knowledge traditional).

Ecofeminism pays special attention to the relationship between nature, women and the capitalist economy; and from there it allows the development of different currents within Ecofeminism itself that made visible not only the exploitation of nature and women, but the differences between the oppression that different women and natures lived around of the world.

• Related article: "Types of feminism and its different currents"

Ecological awareness in feminism

The rise of Ecofeminism was led by feminists who had a strong ecological conscience, and who

denounce that historically the patriarchal system has equated women with nature, which could have been an important position of power for women, but far from that, they ended up being devalued and exploited in the capitalist economy.

That is to say: they question the use and exploitation of nature that has been promoted in the patriarchal societies and they advocate establishing relationships with nature from a more feminine position, closer to the care and protection of living beings.

Among the practices derived from Ecofeminism are, for example, the promotion of natural childbirth or the extension of breastfeeding; as well as the creation of empowerment communities and the self-management of women, especially from the countries with the highest poverty rates.

Some proposals of Ecofeminism

Far from being a homogeneous current, Ecofeminism has developed within itself different proposals that have allowed us to understand some nuances in the experiences of women's subordination and their relationship with the nature.

1. essentialist feminism

Roughly, essentialist ecofeminism is a current that enhances maternal qualities to promote life and care for nature, considering these qualities as important to counteract the ecological crisis.

Part of a radical essentialism based on biological differentiation, where he says that whoever men do not have the ability to procreate makes them highly dependent on female care and their energy. It proposes that women need to emancipate ourselves from masculinity, which is fundamentally aggressive, and empower feminine strength through bonds between ourselves.

The criticisms that have been made of this feminism is its excessive biological essentialism, that is, the assumption that men and women are determined and differentiated by our biological characteristics, which tends to demonize the masculine and can keep women in the segregation.

2. spiritualist feminism

Spiritualist feminism questions the ideal of development of the first world countries, because they say that it is a "bad development" that causes injustices and exploitation especially of women and the nature of "undeveloped countries".

For this reason, this proposal of Ecofeminism is currently one of those that is gaining strength in the "developing" countries, formerly called "the third world".

Spiritualist feminism considers the patriarchal social structure beyond the purely masculine: it understands patriarchy as a system that, among other things, places in women the management of food, child development and care for the environment in general; issues that are especially exploited in the poorest countries.

In this current, women's access to the production of goods is sought by maintaining ourselves as a source of control and balance of the environment and food development. That is, it connects the emancipation of women with ecological awareness and care practices.

3. environmental feminism

In reaction and criticism of the previous proposals, ecologist feminism arises, which notes that Ecofeminism had developed without regard to class differences or ethnicity that make the relationship of women with nature, as well as the exploitation of the patriarchal system, be experienced in different ways.

They propose that this system is not a homogeneous thing that affects all women in the same way, and they focus the complaint not only on the way in which the exploitation of nature affects women in a particular way, but they attribute responsibilities to the groups that monopolize natural resources and to the boom of the economy capitalist.

Bibliographic references:

• Pascual, M. and Herrera, Y. (2010). Ecofeminism, a proposal to rethink the present and build the future. ECOS Bulletin, 10: 1-7
• Velasco, S. (2009). Sexes, gender and health. Theory and methods for clinical practice and health programs. Minerva Editions: Madrid