Women and nature: An ecofeminist study of environmental conservation sustainability
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35719/annisa.v17i2.309Keywords:
Ecofeminism, Gender Equality, Environmental Conservation, Patriarchy, Women’s EmpowermentAbstract
Global issues such as the exploitation of women and the environment are exacerbated by patriarchy and capitalism, resulting in gender inequality and environmental degradation. Women play a crucial role in conservation, as seen in the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, the Chipko Movement in India, and the struggles of Dayak women in Indonesia. Ecofeminism integrates gender and environmental issues to promote equitable sustainability. This study examines the relationship between women and the environment from an ecofeminist perspective, focusing on patriarchal domination, women’s interaction with nature, and their traditional roles and ecological knowledge in environmental preservation. The research employs a literature review method, using credible journals, books, and reports to explore ecofeminism and women’s roles in conservation. The study focuses on identifying key themes related to gender and conservation, exploring diverse perspectives, and developing a conceptual framework for systematic analysis and logical conclusions. The findings show that ecofeminism critiques patriarchal structures that subordinate women and nature, often making them targets of exploitation. This approach promotes the integration of gender analysis in ecology for inclusive and sustainable development, emphasizing women’s crucial role as agents of change toward a more just world. Ecofeminism highlights women’s involvement in resource management, conservation leadership, and their role as key actors in environmental justice and gender-sensitive policy-making. This study contributes by emphasizing the importance of the ecofeminist perspective in critiquing patriarchy, integrating gender analysis in ecology, and recognizing women as agents of change in resource management, conservation leadership, and the formulation of inclusive, gender-sensitive environmental policies for sustainable development.
References
Abo-Khalil, A. G. (2024). Integrating sustainability into higher education: Challenges and opportunities for universities worldwide. Heliyon, 10(9), Article e29946. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e29946
Agarwal, B. (2009). Gender and forest conservation: The impact of women's participation in community forest governance. Ecological Economics, 68(11), 2785–2799. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.04.025
Ali, P. A., & Naylor, P. B. (2013). Intimate partner violence: A narrative review of the feminist, social and ecological explanations for its causation. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 18(6), 611–619. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2013.07.009
Anurogo, D. (2023). Ecofeminism 5.0. Multicultural Islamic Education Review, 1(1), 36–51. https://doi.org/10.23917/mier.v1i1.2828
Arun, K. P., & Subbiah, S. (2020). Dispossession and extractivism in the life of the marginalized: An ecofeminist reading of Mahasweta Devi’s Witch. Asian Women, 36(1), 45–60. https://doi.org/10.14431/aw.2020.3.36.1.45
Bangun, B. H. (2020). Ecofeminism and environmental protection: A legal perspective. Jambe Law Journal, 3(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.22437/jlj.3.1.1-18
Bauhardt, C. (2013). Rethinking gender and nature from a material(ist) perspective: Feminist economics, queer ecologies and resource politics. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 20(4), 361–375. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506812471027
Bell, F. M., Dennis, M. K., & Brar, G. (2022). “Doing hope”: Ecofeminist spirituality provides emotional sustenance to confront the climate crisis. Affilia, 37(1), 42–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109920987242
Bennett, N. J., Roth, R., Klain, S. C., Chan, K. M. A., Clark, D. A., Cullman, G., Epstein, G., Nelson, M. P., Stedman, R., Teel, T. L., Thomas, R. E. W., Wyborn, C., Curran, D., Greenberg, A., Sandlos, J., & Veríssimo, D. (2017). Mainstreaming the social sciences in conservation. Conservation Biology, 31(1), 56–66. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12788
Body, A. (2024). Children as change makers. Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781447365686
Bowen, G. A. (2009). Supporting a grounded theory with an audit trail: An illustration. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 12(4), 305–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645570802156196
Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027
Brennan, L., Fry, M.-L., & Previte, J. (2015). Strengthening social marketing research: Harnessing “insight” through ethnography. Australasian Marketing Journal, 23(4), 286–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ausmj.2015.10.003
Bryan, E., Alvi, M., Huyer, S., & Ringler, C. (2024). Addressing gender inequalities and strengthening women's agency to create more climate-resilient and sustainable food systems. Global Food Security, 40, 100731. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2023.100731
Buckingham, S. (2015). Ecofeminism. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (2nd ed., pp. 845–850). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.91020-1
Chircop, A. (2008). An ecofeminist conceptual framework to explore gendered environmental health inequities in urban settings and to inform healthy public policy. Nursing Inquiry, 15, 135–147. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1800.2008.00400.x
Christou, P. (2023). How to use artificial intelligence (AI) as a resource, methodological and analysis tool in qualitative research? The Qualitative Report, 28(7), 1968–1980. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2023.6406
Clark, J. P. (2012). Political ecology. In R. Chadwick (Ed.), Encyclopedia of applied ethics (2nd ed., pp. 505–516). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-373932-2.00417-8
Cullen, M. M., & Brennan, N. M. (2021). Grounded theory: Description, divergences and application. Accounting, Finance & Governance Review, 27. https://doi.org/10.52399/001c.22173
Dong, W., & Kim, S. (2022). Promotion and protection of feminism creativity for public environment: The integration of ecofeminism and public environment. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2022, Article 5706699. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/5706699
Duru, J., Aro, J., & Oladipo, R. E. (2022). The effects of climate change on the livelihood of rural women: A case study of Ilorin South, Nigeria. Bulletin of the National Research Centre, 46(1), 165. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42269-022-00834-9
Ebidor, L. L., & Ikhide, I. (2024). Literature review in scientific research: An overview. East African Journal of Education Studies, 7(2), 211–218. https://doi.org/10.37284/eajes.7.2.1909
Egri, C. P. (1997). Spiritual connections with the natural environment: Pathways for global change. Organization & Environment, 10(4), 407–431. https://doi.org/10.1177/192181069701000405
Ernanda, E. (2023). Challenging the patriarchal culture: Feminist critical discourse analysis of the Indonesian environmental heroines. Wacana: Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia, 24(1), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.17510/wacana.v24i1.1173
Figueroa, E. B., Dabetić, V., Yuste, R. P., & Saeidzadeh, Z. (2023). Gender and structural inequalities from a socio-legal perspective. In D. Vujadinović, M. Fröhlich, & T. Giegerich (Eds.), Gender-competent legal education (pp. 53–71). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14360-1_4
Filho, W. L., Kovaleva, M., & Tsani, S. (2023). Promoting gender equality across the sustainable development goals. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 25, 14177–14198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02656-1
Gaard, G. (Ed.). (1993). Ecofeminism: Women, animals, nature. Temple University Press. https://archive.org/details/ecofeminismwomen0000unse_b9k0
George, M. (2008). The elements of library research: What every student needs to know. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400830411
Gonzalez-Grandon, X., Cadena-Alvear, I., & Gastelum-Vargas, M. (2024). Interoceptive experiences and ecological care: An embodied approach within therapeutical realms. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, Article 1246906. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1246906
Gough, A., Ho, Y. C. J., Lloro, T., Russell, C., Walters, S., & Whitehouse, H. (2024). Ecofeminisms and education: Repositioning gender and environment in education. Gender and Education, 36(4), 299–311. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2024.2329289
Grewal, A., Kataria, H., & Dhawan, I. (2016). Literature search for research planning and identification of research problem. Indian Journal of Anaesthesia, 60(9), 635–639. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5049.190618
Holy, M., Zeman, M. G., & Zeman, Z. (2021). From ecofeminist theories to ecofeminist practice: Women, sustainability and ethical consumerism. In M. Topić & G. Lodorfos (Eds.), The sustainability debate (Critical studies on corporate responsibility, governance and sustainability, Vol. 14, pp. 123–140). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2043-905920210000015007
Hosseinnezhad, F. (2017). Women and the environment: Ecofeministic approach to environmental attitudes and behavior in Iran. European Journal of Sustainable Development Research, 1(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejosdr.201704
Idrus, I. A., Anurlia, S., & Fadiyah, D. (2023). Analysis of the impact of patriarchal culture on the role of women in politics and governance. Jurnal Studi Ilmu Pemerintahan, 4(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.35326/jsip.v4i1.2965
Johnson, O. (2022). A woman’s place is in the resistance: An ecofeminist response to climate change (No. 128). Student Theses 2015–Present. Fordham University. https://research.library.fordham.edu/environ_2015/128
Klemmer, C. L., & McNamara, K. A. (2020). Deep ecology and ecofeminism: Social work to address global environmental crisis. Affilia, 35(4), 503–515. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109919894650
Kozinets, R. V., & Seraj-Aksit, M. (2024). Everyday activism: An AI-assisted netnography of a digital consumer movement. Journal of Marketing Management, 40(3–4), 347–370. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2024.2307387
Lawless, S., Song, A. M., Cohen, P. J., & Morrison, T. H. (2020). Rights, equity and justice: A diagnostic for social meta-norm diffusion in environmental governance. Earth System Governance, 6, 100052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2020.100052
Lim, W. M. (2024). What is qualitative research? An overview and guidelines. Australasian Marketing Journal, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14413582241264619
Limoudehi, B. A., & Bakhtvar, N. M. (2020). Anthroparchic gynocide/genocide vs. capitalist patriarchy: An ecofeminist reading of Zadie Smith’s “Two men arrive in a village.” IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.22492/ijl.9.2.07
Liu, P. (2024). Laozi’s ecofeminist ethos: Bridging ancient wisdom with contemporary gender and environmental justice. Religions, 15(5), 599. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15050599
Luke, T. W. (2002). Deep ecology: Living as if nature mattered: Devall and Sessions on defending the earth. Organization & Environment, 15(2), 178–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/10826602015002005
Lwamba, E., Shisler, S., Ridlehoover, W., Kupfer, M., Tshabalala, N., Nduku, P., Langer, L., Grant, S., Sonnenfeld, A., Anda, D., Eyers, J., & Snilstveit, B. (2022). Strengthening women's empowerment and gender equality in fragile contexts towards peaceful and inclusive societies: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 18(1), e1214. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1214
Maine, M., & Bunnell, D. W. (2010). A perfect biopsychosocial storm: Gender, culture, and eating disorders. In M. Maine, B. Hartman McGilley, & D. W. Bunnell (Eds.), Treatment of eating disorders (pp. 3–16). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-375668-8.10001-4
Mal, P., & Saikia, N. (2024). Disparity by caste and tribe: Understanding women's empowerment and health outcomes in India. Social Science & Medicine, 354, 117074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117074
Mas’udah, S. (2023). Power relations of husbands and wives experiencing domestic violence in dual-career families in Indonesia. Millennial Asia, 14(1), 5–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/09763996211039730
Mascarenhas, O. A. J., Thakur, M., & Kumar, P. (2024). Critical thinking applied to ecofeminism. In A primer on critical thinking and business ethics (pp. 89–118). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83753-346-620241003
Mathur, R., Katyal, R., Bhalla, V., Tanwar, L., Mago, P., & Gunwal, I. (2023). Women at the forefront of environmental conservation. Current World Environment, 18(2). https://doi.org/10.12944/CWE.18.2.22
Mellor, M. (1997). Women, nature and the social construction of ‘economic man’. Ecological Economics, 20(2), 129–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(95)00100-X
Merchant, C. (1998). The death of nature: A retrospective. Organization & Environment, 11(2), 198–206. https://doi.org/10.1177/0921810698112008
Merchant, C. (2006). The scientific revolution and the death of nature. Isis, 97(3), 513–533. https://doi.org/10.1086/508090
Mondal, G. C., & Majumder, P. (2019). Ecofeminism: Encouraging interconnectedness with our environment in modern society. American Journal of Educational Research, 7(7), 482–484. https://doi.org/10.12691/education-7-7-7
Morrison, L. J., Wilmshurst, T., & Hay, P. (2024). Moral underpinnings of accounting for nature in the global North. Meditari Accountancy Research, 32(5), 1556–1581. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEDAR-07-2023-2107
Mosse, D. (2018). Caste and development: Contemporary perspectives on a structure of discrimination and advantage. World Development, 110, 422–436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.06.003
Naeem, M., Ozuem, W., Howell, K., & Ranfagni, S. (2023). A step-by-step process of thematic analysis to develop a conceptual model in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231205789
Nguyen, H. T., & Rydstrom, H. (2018). Climate disaster, gender, and violence: Men's infliction of harm upon women in the Philippines and Vietnam. Women's Studies International Forum, 71, 56–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2018.09.001
Niko, N. (2017). Perempuan Dayak Mali: Melindungi alam dari maut. Umbara: Indonesia Journal of Anthropology, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.24198/umbara.v2i2.20447
Niko, N., Widianingsih, I., Sulaeman, M., & Fedryansyah, M. (2023). Indigenous forest: The crucial role of Dayak Benawan women’s knowledge in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Journal of Namibian Studies: History Politics Culture, 37, 885–902. https://doi.org/10.59670/jns.v37i.5203
Niko, N., Widianingsih, I., Sulaeman, M., & Fedryansyah, M. (2024). Indigenous women, forest, and the battle for livelihood rights of Dayak Benawan in Indonesia. Multidisciplinary Reviews, 7(8), 2024160. https://doi.org/10.31893/multirev.2024160
Nirmal, P. (2020). Nature and gender. In A. Kobayashi (Ed.), International encyclopedia of human geography (2nd ed., pp. 285–293). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102295-5.10232-X
Nofrima, S., Sjahputra, H. R. T., Ruhullah, M. E., et al. (2023). Analysis of the existence of ecofeminism in Indonesian civil society in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic (2020–2022). GeoJournal, 88(6), 5477–5488. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-023-10930-6
Ottuh, P. (2020). A critique of eco-feminism: An attempt towards environmental solution. International Journal of Environmental Pollution and Environmental Modelling, 3(4), 167–179. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/ijepem/issue/56605/850784#article_cite
Ozden, M. (2023). Chapter 6 The importance of ecofeminism in sustainable development. In Reconstructing feminism through cyberfeminism. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004690868_007
Phillips, M. E. (2020). Reconnecting with nature: An ecofeminist view of environmental management. Geographical Research, 58, 154–166. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12388
Plumwood, V. (1993). Feminism and the mastery of nature (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203006757
Presbey, G. M. (2013). Women’s empowerment: The insights of Wangari Maathai. Journal of Global Ethics, 9(3), 277–292. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449626.2013.856640
Purwanto, E., Santoso, H., Jelsma, I., Widayati, A., Nugroho, H. Y. S. H., & van Noordwijk, M. (2020). Agroforestry as policy option for forest-zone oil palm production in Indonesia. Land, 9(12), 531. https://doi.org/10.3390/land9120531
Reed, M. S., Ferré, M., Martin-Ortega, J., Blanche, R., Lawford-Rolfe, R., Dallimer, M., & Holden, J. (2021). Evaluating impact from research: A methodological framework. Research Policy, 50(4), 104147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2020.104147
Regmi, P. R., Waithaka, E., Paudyal, A., Simkhada, P., & van Teijlingen, E. (2016). Guide to the design and application of online questionnaire surveys. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology, 6(4), 640–644. https://doi.org/10.3126/nje.v6i4.17258
Riady, (2021). Analisis ekofeminisme gerakan Chipko di India. Indonesian Journal of International Relations, 5(2), 140–162. https://doi.org/10.32787/ijir.v5i2.217
Rowland, L. (2015). Speculative solutions: The development of environmental and ecofeminist discourse in Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam. Studies in Canadian Literature, 40(2). https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/24548
Ruslin, I. T. (2022). The way of a patriarchal bargain: How the bargain under the structure and agency perspective. ETNOSIA: Jurnal Etnografi Indonesia, 7(2), 141–153. https://doi.org/10.31947/etnosia.v7i2.21293
Rynbrandt, L. J., & Deegan, M. J. (2002). The ecofeminist pragmatism of Caroline Bartlett Crane, 1896-1935. The American Sociologist, 33(3), 58–68. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27700315
Salleh, A. (1991). Staying alive: Women, ecology and development. Hypatia, 6(1), 206–214. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.1991.tb00218.x
Şeren, G. Y. (2023). Chapter 5 Ecofeminism: Lessons on ecology and the environment. In Reconstructing feminism through cyberfeminism. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004690868_006
Sharnappa, P. S. (2016). Reconstructing ecofeminism: A study of Kamala Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve. Cogent Social Sciences, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2016.1243772
Shiva, V. (1989). Staying alive: Women, ecology and survival in India. Zed Books. https://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/stayingalive.pdf
Singh, M. K. (2018). Gender and women empowerment approaches: Interventions through PRIs and CSOs in Northern India. Women's Studies International Forum, 71, 63–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2018.10.002
Snyder, H. (2019). Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 104, 333–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.039
Sollund, R. (2015). [Review of Ecofeminism, by M. Mies and V. Shiva]. State Crime Journal, 4(1), 99–103. https://doi.org/10.13169/statecrime.4.1.0099
Strid, S., & Hearn, J. (2022). Violence and patriarchy. In L. R. Kurtz (Ed.), Encyclopedia of violence, peace, & conflict (3rd ed., pp. 319–327). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-820195-4.00108-4
Subudhi, C., & Keyoor, K. (2019). Staying alive: Women, ecology and development. Vandana Shiva. Journal of International Women's Studies, 20(7), 426–427. https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol20/iss7/29
Sullivan, D., & Hickel, J. (2023). Capitalism and extreme poverty: A global analysis of real wages, human height, and mortality since the long 16th century. World Development, 161, 106026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.106026
Sutton, J., & Austin, Z. (2015). Qualitative research: Data collection, analysis, and management. The Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, 68(3), 226–231. https://doi.org/10.4212/cjhp.v68i3.1456
Tenny, S., Brannan, J. M., & Brannan, G. D. (2022). Qualitative study. In StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island, FL: StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470395/
Tirosh-Samuelson, H. (2005). Religion, ecology, and gender: A Jewish perspective. Feminist Theology, 13(3), 373–397. https://doi.org/10.1177/0966735005054919
Tran, D. (2021). A comparative study of women environmental defenders’ antiviolent success strategies. Geoforum, 126, 126–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.07.024
Unger, N. C. (2014). Women and gender: Useful categories of analysis in environmental history. In A. C. Isenberg (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of environmental history. Oxford Handbooks. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195324907.013.0021
Wahyono, (2024). Kriya practice from the perspective of ecofemism. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2303200
Warren, K. J. (2001). Feminist theory: Ecofeminist and cultural feminist. In N. J. Smelser & P. B. Baltes (Eds.), International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (pp. 5495–5499). Pergamon. https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-08-043076-7/03949-8
Warren, K. J. (Ed.). (1994). Ecological feminism. Routledge. https://archive.org/details/ecofeminismwomen0000unse/page/n5/mode/2up
Wieczorek, P. (2018). Women, nature, and capitalist patriarchy: An ecofeminist reading of Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood (2009). New Horizons in English Studies, 3, 112–122. https://doi.org/10.17951/nh.2018.3.112
Woehrle, L. M. (2022). Gender studies. In L. R. Kurtz (Ed.), Encyclopedia of violence, peace, & conflict (3rd ed., pp. 82–91). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-820195-4.00102-3
Workneh, M. A. (2020). Gender inequality, governance, and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty & Public Policy, 12, 150–174. https://doi.org/10.1002/pop4.278
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Bilqis Amelia Devi Chinsya, Zohaib Hassan Sain
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
AN-NISA licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. 