Women – caretakers of the earth and its animals.  Men – rapists of the soil, dominators of women, children, and animals.  Eco-feminism is the social movement that links the oppression of women and abuse of nature as being connected.  Man is seen as the one who has caused harm to the planet while woman has nurtured all life – both animals and plants – who share our planet. The examples are many.  Men plundering natural resources; women toiling in gardens while guarding the precious soil that feeds their families. Men wielding power over all those who are weaker (women, children, animals).  Women giving birth, caring for the home and garden, loving and protecting animals. 

Ecofeminism sees the oppression of women and nature as interconnected.  More recently, eco-feminist theorists have extended their analyses to consider the interconnections between sexism, the domination of nature (including animals), and also racism and social inequalities. Consequently it is now better understood as a movement working against the interconnected oppressions of gender, race, class and nature. 

Once regarded as chattels, owned by men, women have had a long road coming into their own – gaining the right to vote, the right to be heard, the right to break through the “glass ceiling.”  In many ways, women have been treated the way that animals have been treated - as owned pieces of property that do the bidding of men. Ecofeminists believe that it is male ownership of land that has led to both the exploitation of the earth and people. Men are the ones who instituted slavery, who participated in genocides, who raped the land of its natural resources, and whose greed is far more compelling than stewardship of the earth. 

Ecofeminism is a social and political movement that underlines the common ground between environmentalism and feminism.  Women, the caretakers of both the family and Mother Earth, are the ones whose beliefs and ways are most likely to lead to the continuation of the planet. 

Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai, a famous Ecofeminist and the first environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize (2004) is associated with the Green Belt Movement which preserves our valuable green areas in communities. Serving on the National Council of Women, Maathai developed the idea in Africa of planting trees to preserve the environment. She helped women plant more than 30 million trees in communities in Africa and inspired them to take charge of their environment and their future. 

Vandana Shiva, another important Ecofeminist, participated in the Chipko (to stick in Hindi) Movement in the 1980’s in India.  She led a group of female peasants who prevented the cutting of trees and helped reclaim their traditional forest rights that were being threatened by the State Forest Department.   She leads the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in a research initiative on ecological sustainability.  One her website, Shiva wrote, “For me, ecology and feminism have been inseparable.” 

Current college curriculums offer classes in Eco-Feminism in which interesting questions are explored.  Is the Earth our Mother? Are women closer to nature than men? Is the destruction of the environment linked to the oppression of women? Can environmentalists be men? Can feminists be men? Has the gain in women’s rights run parallel in the gain of animals’ rights? 

The answers students will find today are different than the answers they would have found yesterday. There is no question that we have lived in a male-dominated world since the beginning of time but women while not dominators have had a profound influence as well.  While there are still terrible abuses in parts of the world, women are gradually gaining their rightful equality.  The same is true for animals.  The distance to be gained before all creatures are treated humanely is huge but it is at last becoming measurable. 

It is also necessary to note that the number of men involved in environmentalism and animal rights is soaring. Perhaps it is time to change the label ecofeminism to ecohumanism. Men and women alike bear the responsibility for protecting and nurturing all the life of our planet – humans, animals, plants, soil, water, and air. . Hopefully, the tide is beginning to turn.