Stella Campbell

Western Dominion and the Subjugation of Women and Nature

By Stella Campbell

In the book Ecofeminism, authors and activists Maria Miles and Vandana Shiva explore the intersection of environmental degradation and the marginalization of women ’ s role in society. Within this work, parallels are drawn linking the relationship between men and women, and humans and the environment. Resources the Earth provides us are largely externalized by the market—clean water, shade, filtration, clean air, fertile soil, just to name a few. Similarly, historically gendered work draws a bright line between valuable services and unvalued services on the basis of gender. In consideration of the validity of the ecofeminist paradigm, it is critical to acknowledge essentialist claims about womanhood. There is no intrinsic reality shared by women. Furthermore, in place of the narrow definition of womanhood, it may be useful to reconsider colonial co-optation of femininity and masculinity as alternative to potentially essentialist claims. Nonetheless, “ ecofeminism remains one of the most promising movements within radical environmental thought” (Archambault, 1993). Considering what we value and why we do— socially, ecologically and economically; allows us to identify how our political system shapes our perception. Under a free-market political system which predominantly values work historically performed by men; the brunt of public health crises, economic disparities, political conflicts, environmental degradation and the like all disproportionately affect disadvantaged populations—namely people historically subjugated in the name of development. The pursuit of growth, narrowly and exclusively defined by maximization of production, disadvantages all not aligned with this definition—namely indigenous people, Black people, people of color, and women. Ahistorical narratives of the colonial project; notably in the dichotomy between “developing ” and “developed” nations, disembed the current global division of labor from its colonial roots. In violently imposing capitalism, what could be commodified was to be dominated—socially and ecologically. From the disruption and devaluation of historically gendered work to the co-optation of ecological relations in the name of abundance, human-ecological relations have been separated in the name of development. As outlined in Ecofeminism, in this process—all commodities, fictitious or not, are reduced to value and non-value. Work which does not produce tangible value is denigrated. Furthermore, for the system of capitalism to sustain itself, it must continually reproduce vast inequalities; “the prevailing world market system, oriented towards unending growth and profit, cannot be maintained unless it can exploit external and internal colonies: nature, women and other people ” (Mies,, 1993). In sum, “the marginalization of women and the destruction of biodiversity go hand in hand” (Miles & Shiva, 1993).

Ecological Subjugation: Manifestations Today

"Indigenous women, Black women, women from low-income communities, and women from the Global South bear an even heavier burden from the impacts of climate change because of the historic and continuing impacts of colonialism, racism and inequality; and in many cases, because they are more reliant upon natural resources for their survival and/or live in areas that have poor infrastructure ” —Women ’ s Earth and Climate Action Network, International (WECAN, 2018). Women are at the forefront of the global industrial labor force. In particular, the textile and agricultural industry is plagued by inequity perpetrated by the Global North onto the Global South. Basic principles of beneficence for working conditions are relinquished for growth at all costs which the affluent Western consumer is intentionally shielded from. The most recent report conducted by the United Nations ’ Food and Agriculture Organization reports that “the majority of economically active women in the least-developed countries work in agriculture ” (FAO, 2011). Women in agriculture face gender specific roadblocks including limited access to credit, training, education, and diminished land rights (Duckett, 2019). Moving forward, we must recognize gross human injustices committed against women— especially in the Global South in the name of development. The United States labor industry externalizes the cost of doing business with lax international labor standards, disproportionately harming women. Businesses must first and foremost internalize the cost of operations by raising wages and labor standards, in the United States and abroad. Ultimately, to support ethical business practices, wages must rise for consumers of goods manufactured overseas. Wealth must be redistributed from large corporations back to the general public. This requires radical policy change, beginning with stakeholder engagement. One of the most effective ways to be engaged is through being an active participant in your community dialogue. For change to occur at the global scale, small changes have to be made incrementally.