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Unit 9 - Gender and the Environment (Section 1 - Feminist Approaches (1.2…
Unit 9 - Gender and the Environment
Section 1 - Feminist Approaches
1.1 Gender and the Enviornment
1970s-80s - rise of research of women and the environment - linkages
Chipko movement in India - worked to protect forest against the logging industry - seen to challenge the dominant discourse at the time which saw industrial/military development as sign of progress
Ellin Wagner
- women have a special responsibility to care for the environment
Perspectives on gender and the environment
Social constructivist
Relations and linkages with the environment depends on people's interaction with it
Follows from the interpretivist constructivist paradigm which argues that knowledge is generated through interaction with the object being studied
Feminist environmentalism
Emerged from this paradigm - it argues that women's distinct experiences provide them with privileged knowledge on the environment, how to manage it and how to conserve it.
Focuses on inequalities - often, women lack access to resources, knowledge, decision-making; and suffer disproportionately from climate change
Symbolic perspective
Argues that women and men have different characteristics which places them at different positions with regards to the environment
Women - associated with body, nature, sexuality
Men - associated with mind, culture and power
1.2 Ecofeminism
Celebrates women's innate characteristics and difference from men - puts them at an advantaged position for caring for the environment
Merchant
- domination of women and nature are linked
Shiva - patriarchal structures, oppression of women and ecological destruction are linked - new violent nature with the environment is linked to the oppression of women
Criticisms
Romanticizes the relation between women and environment - neglects men
Ignores other aces of oppression
Braidotti and Agrawal
- argue against homogenization of women
Agrawal
- feminist environmentalism is an alternative - it argues the privileged knowledge of women could be useful for development interventions
Rochealeu
- a poltiical ecology approach - argues that material inequalities and structural mechanisms limit women's access to natural resources - affects the knowledge they have of the environment
Example
- Marsh loss in Iraq - women's lack of access to marshes due to decreased flooding is not a result of ecological destruction per se - but because women lacked the access to knowledge on how to deal with climate change
Example
- Milpa in Mexico
Section 2 Environmental Entitlements and Development
2.1 Environmental Entitlements
The relation between people and the environment is complex, dynamic and context specific
Environmental entitlements - determines people's access/use of environmental resources - and affects their livelihoods
Environmental entitlements are an outcome of:
The environmental resource bundles available
The capacity to use them effectively
Example in Tanzania
- women lacked access to environmental resources because their access/use of land resources is determined by Sharia Law
2.2 Environment and Development
Development initiatives - e.g. land titling and privatization - can limit women's access to open access/common property resources
FAO - women make up 43% of agricultural workforce in developing countries - if women had access to the same resources then:
Agricultural output would increase by 2.5-4%
Farm yields would increase by 20-30%
World hunger would fall by 12-17%
Gendered effects of the environment
Lack of access to resources - land, water, inputs
Health impacts
Lack of decision-making power
Lack of access to knowledge resources
Disproportionate climate change effect
Key Readings
Carr and Thompson
Women's disadvantaged position due to:
Lack of access to decision-making
Gendered crops and agricultural practices
Climate change effect
Development initiatives do not see women as effective agents
Need to look at beyond just gender - e.g. climate change may not affect rich women as it affects rich men
Dankelman and Jensen
Women have a special task to care for the environment - food procurement, safekeeping it, childbearing,
FAO - women as the gatherer more important than man the hunter
Critical factors and coping strategies