Ecofeminism: alternatives in defense of life and the environment

The economic and social impacts of the covid-19 pandemic are overwhelming and have revealed the fragility of the system in which we live. In a scenario of the destruction of ecosystems and natural disasters that require an urgent response, ecofeminism is presented as an alternative that defends life and the environment. On the foundations of ecofeminist thought and the role of women in the fight for environmental conservation and sustainable life, the daily spoke with the referents of the ecofeminist collective Dafnias Ana Filippini and Mariana Achugar.

"Ecofeminism is a conversation between ecology and feminism," defines Filippini, quoting the Spanish ecofeminist anthropologist Yayo Herrero. It is based on the concepts of ecodependence and interdependence. The first refers to the bond of human beings with the environment, and the second refers to the fact that we all need other people to take care of us, especially in some stages of life, such as childhood, old age or when we are sick. .

However, for Filippini these concepts are “invisible” by the working dynamics of capitalism. “We need the environment and what it provides us to survive. However, we live in a system in which the value of water is seen more because we buy it bottled than that of water in its natural state, and that happens with all natural resources ”, he points out. Meanwhile, care tasks - performed mostly by women - are socially undervalued and their value in the economy is seldom taken into account.

Another of the foundations of ecofeminism is to "make visible" that there are material bases that sustain life, but they are not infinite. "We live in a limited world that cannot have unlimited growth," says Filippini. Ecofeminists argue that capitalism hides where it obtains the resources to support itself and prevents the generation of an awareness of the limits of those goods.

"This system is based on the destruction of life, it turns everything into merchandise, everything is for sale and everything is an exchangeable object," says Achugar. In this sense, the members of Dafnias affirm that "capitalism has declared war on life." But it will have a tough battle against environmental and ecofeminist movements.

Underlining the limits of material goods is relevant to ecofeminism. Life cannot continue much longer under the same system of accumulation and excessive growth "because there will be nothing"; "Reality tells us that some have to stop and others increase their access to certain resources," says Achugar, in order to have a balance and social justice.

Ecofeminism is plural and occurs in very different ways, although it has a series of common features. The application of feminist ideas in relation to the environment reached its peak in the 1970s, with various demonstrations and peaceful actions around the world, says Achugar.

The term "ecofeminism" was created in 1974 by the French writer and feminist Françoise d'Eaubonne (1920-2005). Within the “different schools” that make up the movement, in the United States, for example, it has focused on the capitalist “relationship of domination” between people and how the pattern is repeated in the bond with nature. On the other hand, Latin American movements, through the history of their peoples, have incorporated anti-colonial and anti-racist ideas and “follow the philosophical principles of native peoples, who had another conceptualization of how human beings are with nature,” explains Achugar.

Shake the social foundations

"What we are looking for is how to undo everything and start over," says Achugar: "we must think and change the type of social relationships that exist" and "how we think of ourselves as human beings in nature." In the same way that patriarchy exercises domination over the body of women and dissidents, capitalism exercises domination over nature. For ecofeminism, everything is part of the same system and of the forms of interaction that perpetuate exploitation, domination and other types of violence over bodies and territories.

Thus, ecofeminism tries to cross the system itself, which was forged on dichotomies that cross the ways of thinking, feeling and acting, such as city-countryside, nature-culture, feminine-masculine, rationality-emotionality, technology-raw material. “We do not have to think of nature as something apart or as a space that we inhabit, but as part of the system that we integrate. That implies having other evaluation criteria, asking ourselves what is important for life, what we are going to give priority to socially and how we use and inhabit the territory ”, says Achugar.

In this sense, ecofeminism defends a “holistic and comprehensive vision”. Everything interacts, influences and alters each other; everything is in constant co-creation and affectation. This systemic perspective allows us to observe, for example, how the financial system and global capitalism are related to the costs and food options that people have in the supermarket, explains Achugar. It also involves rethinking economic principles, established hierarchical structures, and all the foundations of today's society.

Alternative proposals

The alternatives proposed by the ecofeminists contemplate a transformation of social relations and the vision of the world, but also specific ideas adjusted to each context. For our country, the ecofeminists have presented several. Among them, reduce distribution circuits, stop buying in large supermarkets and support small and medium traders and food producers, reduce consumption and make it responsible, reduce the use of materials and energy and question what types production are required.

Supporting and promoting agroecological production - understood as "a social movement, form of knowledge and life, as well as a form of production" - of family producers and small producers is another important measure, says Achugar, adding that this type of production It fosters the space for the development of new, more direct social ties between consumers and producers and allows the development of a “social and solidarity economy”.

Another aspect is the commitment to "self-sustaining communities", something that is already being worked on in the country. Likewise, the ecofeminist highlights the work of the Red de Huertas Comunitarias del Uruguay, which "is focused on how people can access healthy food in cities" and is an attractive proposal in the midst of the social crisis, as well as a possibility for "People with economic difficulties, who at this moment were left without work so that they can maintain the right to feed themselves." It is also essential to work on the idea of ​​"food sovereignty", he says.

For Achugar, to propose that ecofeminism is the only alternative would be to do the same as capitalism does, which was installed as the only possible way for development and that people have a good quality of life. In this sense, both defend the "pluriverse" of ideas based on the reality of the territories and that ecofeminist movements dialogue with other environmental groups to find the best way to transition to an alternative system that does not sustain itself in domination, the excessive growth and accumulation, and that places the sustainability of life as a central aspect.

Mariana achugar

Relating women and ecology takes us back several decades. In 1973, in India, a group of peasant women hugged 300 ash trees and prevented the logging industry from felling them. It was the first action of the Chipko movement, which to this day continues its fight for the conservation of forests. In the United States, in 1980, the housewives of the Love Canal neighborhood came together to protest against the chemical contamination of the territory where they lived, which affected people's health. They achieved recognition of the environmental responsibility of the authorities, and 900 families were reinstated. In England in 1983, 70,000 women formed a 23-kilometer human chain to protest the US nuclear missiles housed at the Royal Air Force base on Greenham Common in Berkshire.

Demonstrations led by women spread throughout the world. Filippini and Achugar, who are also members of the Latin American Network of Women Defenders of Social and Environmental Rights, argue that there are many examples of groups led by women throughout the region. They highlight the legacy of Berta Cáceres in Honduras, a Lenca indigenous, feminist and environmentalist murdered in 2016 for leading various environmental actions; the formation in 2001 of the group Las Madres de Ituzaingó, in Córdoba, Argentina, to denounce the health effects of the agro-industrial production model and the indiscriminate use of pesticides; the role of the Afrofeminist, social activist and current candidate for the presidency of Colombia Francia Márquez in defending the right of communities to the territory;

Uruguay is no exception and women have "always" had a central place in environmental movements, Filippini argues. They have led various struggles for the environment and life throughout the country, for example, the complaints and demonstrations due to the lead in La Teja at the beginning of the 2000s and the actions against mining in Cerro Chato.

Among the most recent groups, the ecofeminists highlighted the participation of women in the formation of the Por el Costado de la Vía movement, which denounces the irregularities and human rights violations caused by the installation of the Central Railroad for the UPM company. “90% of the members are women and 100% of the referents of the localities comprised along the 270 kilometers through which the train will pass are women: Leticia on May 25, Florencia in Durazno, Blanca in Sarandí, Natalia in Canelones, among others ”, says Filippini.

For Achugar and Filippini there are several reasons why women take a central role in defending the environment. They are more affected than men by the consequences of the climate crisis, by the unequal division of care and domestic work. In addition, women tend to be poorer and live - like other sectors that have violated their rights - in the places that suffer the most from pollution, which has direct impacts on their health.

"The climatic consequences do not impact all of us in the same way," says Achugar. The least favored sectors are those that suffer the most. Filippini adds that “many times men defend the installation of multinationals and their mega-projects that are harmful to the environment because they are the ones who find work in those companies that invade the territories”, and it is the “women alone who manage to raise awareness much easier about the impacts on the environment, which go beyond the opportunity of a specific job ”.

The Dafnias Ecofeminist Collective emerged in 2016 from the need to analyze the current environmental crisis from a gender perspective. The group is made up of feminists trained in different academic areas and intergenerationally.

"What we expect from this group is to generate debate, criticism and incidence on the current logic that enables the destruction of Nature and deepens gender asymmetries", the members maintain in a presentation document.

Its principles are to recognize interdependence and eco-dependence, to deconstruct dichotomies that "form part of the cultural base that devalues ​​women," not to commodify life, to be diverse and plural, and intersectionality; they recognize the multiple axes of discrimination (class, ethnic, racial, geographic, among others) and do not subscribe to any political party.

Since 2017, Dafnias has been a member of the Latin American Network of Women Defenders of Social and Environmental Rights, which has a long history of struggle and resistance against extractivism at the regional level.