Eco-Feminism Module On Women Environmental Activists

In the article “Women’s Human Rights and Gender Equality’’ i read about how Women’s rights are the fundamental human rights that were enshrined by the United Nations for every human being on the planet nearly 70 years ago. These rights include to live free from violence, slavery, and discrimination; to be educated ; to vote and to earn a fair and equal wage. A famous saying goes “Women’s rights are human rights” meaning, women all around the world are entitled to all of these rights, but yet there are women and girls who are still denied these rights, often simply because of their gender. Winning these rights for women isn’t all, it’s also about changing how countries and communities works and their perspectives on gender equality. Global Fund for Women exists to support the tireless and courageous efforts of women’s groups who work every day to win rights for women and girls. These groups are working to ensure women can own property, vote, run for office, get paid fair wages, and live free from violence – including domestic violence, sexual assault. The Global Fund for Women also stand for other rights that are vital for women’s equality. They stand for a woman’s right to decide if and when she has children, and to have high-quality health

In the reading “The Power and the Promise of Ecological Feminism”, the author, Karen J. Warren, explains her argument on the inevitable connection between the oppression of women and the oppression of nature. She further suggests that ecofeminism provides a framework to re envision feminism and create an environmental ethic which takes into account the connection between sexism and naturism.

In 2004, Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize for her achievements with the Green Belt Movement, which is a non-profit NGO that she founded in her native Kenya. Planting trees for food, timber and fuel isn’t an act that anyone could see as the first step to winning a Nobel Peace Prize. Although, with that simple action, Wangari Maathai of Kenya started down the path that helped to regain her country’s land from a period of deforestation while supplying new sources of nourishment to rural communities. Terry is a Mormon who grew up loving nature and aiming to keep it natural so it was hard for her to understand why there were many people who didn’t care. She found peace in a bird refuge where she then went multiple times. This was her hideaway place, where things made sense. At Great Salt Lake, the bird refuge is home to her, and her family before her. She learned a lot from her grandmother about the ways of the lake, the animals, and how it was to be conserved. Williams clearly takes an ecofeminist stand in Refuge because women are more connected with nature than men. and equality between humanity and earth is very important. The push Williams forces towards women’s rights sends a strong message of resistance about the male patriarchy. Because of the positive outcomes her changes would bring, Williams viewpoint for ecological safety is very significant. There is a lot of progress to be made, but by

Taking a gender woman study class gave me the opportunity to discover how woman do not only fight for their rights but for everyones right as well. In Mary Pardo’s Mexican American Women and Grassroots Community Activists: Mothers of East Los Angeles, I was able to learn how woman fight for their communities rights and try their hardest to protect everyone and not just themselves. Michelle Jacob’s article Claiming Health and Culture as a Human Rights: Yakama Feminism in Daily Practice also shows how woman become agents of change to bring change into the community. As I kept reading various articles, I also discovered Lila Abu-Lughod. “The Romance of Resistance: Tracing Transformations of Power Through Bedouin Women.” which focused on working towards woman rights. The last article I will talk

Across cultures and throughout history, women have experienced ongoing systemic oppression; and they have responded with progressive movements of protest and creative alternatives. Harriet Tubman in the fight against slavery: Fannie Lou Hamer for voting rights: Ella Baker and Mary White Ovington in the civil rights movement: Rosa Luxemburg in the German socialist movement: Winnie Mandela in the anti-apartheid movement: Puerto Rican independence leader and poet Lolita Lebron: and American Indian movement activists Anna Mae Aquash, Ingrid Washinawatok, and Winona LaDuke (Mink and Navarro). Women have pioneered in movements for labor rights, prison reform, reproductive rights and health, education, affordable housing, affirmative action and equal rights, human rights, and environmental safety. These women’s leadership styles span a range from soft to harsh, from wielding individual, hierarchical power to possessing a commitment to collectivism, and from identifying as “woman as caretaker of life” to woman as requiring and utilizing equal power to man. There is no one characteristic that applies to all women as social change leaders (Hurtado).

This book is a crucial dose of reality for those of us that are spoiled by the comforts we have grown used too. Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn explain in the book “Half the Sky” why empowering women in the developing world is ethically right and extremely vital.It is a gripping story of how customs and culture have historically oppressed women. The strength of the human rights movement and of actual change across all cultures is going to be asteadfast task of courageous women who give themselves permission to say no to so many years of unthinkable tyrannical cultural customs and fight for a new way of life. Many of us close our eyes

The purpose of this piece is to draw awareness to the many contradictions relating environmental justice movements and to create a society more conscious of decisions by considering consequences.

In order to share my story I must first mention the work of my mother, María Martínez, for she has played an instrumental role in my life. In the late 1990s, María worked with the Environmental Health Coalition, a nonprofit organization centered around environmental justice, to advocate for the needs of underserved communities by participating in marches, protests, and testimonies at public hearings. After nearly two decades of service, María retired from the Environmental Health Coalition to care for her kids. With my mother now being preoccupied rearing my younger siblings, I have taken it upon myself to continue the legacy of my mother.

The environment is constantly being sacrificed for food production, toxic dumps, wood distribution, military testing, and other things such as these. And as usual, the root lies in profit. The corporations can’t afford to be concerned with the future well being of the earth and it’s dwellers. Also, environmental pollution can be connected to racism and classism because it is the poor communities that are used for toxic dumps and prisons, and it’s the poor people who work in the factories that require having contact with harmful chemicals and technologies, and generally the poor communities consist of people of color.

The first part of this essay will outline the main arguments of the feminist ecologists and deal with the concept of Ecofeminism. The second part will sketch the main arguments of Rosemary Radford Reuther book, "Gaia and God". The final part of this essay will analyze: Starhawk's The Spiral Dance, "Witchcraft as Goddess Religion", The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, and "the Descent of Inanna" and examine the pros and cons of the position that a return to goddess worship would save our planet.

When it comes to leadership of women in the environment, Wangari Mathai is a good example. Wangari Maathai was a woman from Kenya who saw the effects of deforestation, as well as the relationship it had with the rest of the environment, like topsoil runoff which leads to poor soil for farming and poor water quality (Winright p. 270). Therefore, she started the Green Belt Movement which moved to plant more trees causing less topsoil runoff which leads to more planting ground and cleaner water (Winright p. 270). By looking to better the world in which she had lived in Wangari was able to express solidarity in what she did. Solidarity as stated in the text is” the ties in a society that bind people to one another so that they are able to relate to and support people of different backgrounds”, as well

One of these aspects that results in the exclusion of people of color in the environmental movement is the lack of Black thought in environmental discourse. As a social construct, the terms nature and environment is able to take on definitions that can be changed and applied in a way that can apply to anyone who is in charge. Which is why, in part, the omission of Black bodies from discourse in environmental justice is sad, but not shocking. The exclusion of Black thought from environmental discourse is caused by the intentional exclusion of Black bodies by white environmentalist groups that do not define the “environment” in a way that is inclusive to Black people . One way they do this is by viewing the environment as something that is tangible or relating to non-human things such as air pollution, or saving trees and other things similar to that nature. Considering that these issues, while important, do not pervade Black life to the extent that living in clean houses, raising children, and ensuring safety for their family in toxic environments, the blanket definition of white environmentalism does not, and cannot, apply here . Yet, white environmentalists want to include Black people (predominantly women because of what they bring to the table ) in their movement, but they refuse to acknowledge the terms of Black environmentalism as an environmental movement. One reason that they refute these ideas could stem directly from the disproportionate socioeconomic status between Blacks and whites. This is evidenced in that many environmental activists are predominantly white upper class with above average income, while Blacks not only make considerably less money, but also live in housing shaped largely by federal housing politics, institutional and individual discrimination .

All around the world women are crying out, claiming "that it is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate form human rights," (Hillary Clinton -- Tumulty, 1997). The abuses females endure are found everywhere in places like Senegal, Bangladesh, and Berjing, China. Abortion, denial of political rights, and suppression of speech (Tumulty) are forces upon women daily. But feminism has taken a strong hold of the women around the world, giving them hope for equal rights in the future. "Our community could see we were a society of strong willed women," prides Faustima Nunez, a resident of Chica, "and we are no

It is so natural, in our current world, to feel disengaged from the physical earth. In spite of desperate notices and heightening worry over the condition of our planet, many individuals became in touch with the normal world. Wangari Maathai invested decades of working with the Green Belt Movement to help ladies in provincial Kenya plant and maintain many trees. With their hands in the soil, these ladies frequently got themselves engaged and "at home" in a way they never did. Maathai wanted to confer that inclination to everybody, and trusts that the key lies in conventional qualities such as adore for the earth, self-improvement, appreciation and regard, and a pledge to benefit. Maathai wanted to create a value-driven society of people who consciously work for continued improvement of their livelihoods and a greener, cleaner world; to strive for better environmental management, community empowerment, and livelihood improvement using tree-planting as an entry point.

Today, we live in a world interwoven with women's oppression, ecological degradation, and the exploitation of workers, race, and class. In the midst of these troubles, a movement known as ecofeminism appears to be gaining recognition. In the following, I hope to illustrate this revitalization movement . I will begin by characterizing a definition of ecofeminism; I will then bring to the forefront the ethical issues that Ecofeminism is involved with, then distinguish primary ideas and criticisms.