Ecofeminism or Ecological Feminism
What is ecofeminism?
Ecofeminism or ecological feminism is a concept that emerged in the 1970s with the nuclear nonproliferation movement and environmental activism. Ecofeminism, which puts the damage to the environment into practice on the axis of women's exploitation and women's empowerment, argues that all living things are interrelated; The damage done to the world underlines the strong links between exploitation of the planet and sexist exploitation .
How did it arise?
In 1972, Françoise D'Eaubonne founded the “Center for Ecology-Feminism” in Paris and coined the term ecofeminism in 1974. The first ecofeminist conference took place in 1980, when the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the USA was among the triggers of the nearly "meltdown" accident in 1979. At this conference, it was discussed that environmental destruction and the threat of nuclear destruction are supported by the same “masculine” mentality that oppresses women ; The women's movement was also added to the environmental movement.
Since then, ecofeminism has evolved, changed, and developed other approaches of its own. Liberal ecofeminism, cultural ecofeminism, socialist ecofeminism, queer ecofeminism and vegan ecofeminism are some of them.
Let's get to the biggest reason why we want to talk about ecofeminism.
Women are more affected by the climate crisis.
While the harms of climate change are felt more and more in countless fields such as agriculture, food security, biodiversity and ecosystems, water resources, human health, migrations, energy, transportation and industry, it is reported that these negative effects affect women more than men. Among the reasons for this are the fact that they make up the majority of the world's poor and the excess of women who lead lives dependent on natural resources threatened by the climate crisis. Thanks to their unequal access to resources and decision-making processes, women in rural and remote areas are particularly affected by climate change.
Therefore, gender-sensitive strategies need to be identified as we approach the climate crisis.
