ECOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE
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activists, such as Cynthia Hamilton, have consistently named capitalism as a
primary force behind ecological and social injustice.
Women in the environmental justice movement became a source of
inspiration to white ecofeminists who, by the mid-1980s, were at a loss for how
to reconstitute an activist base for the movement. Indeed, in contrast to the
ecofeminist movement which was
constituted in
national
anti-militarist
campaigns, women involved in the fight for environmental justice were
engaged in community based, struggles for cultural and ecological justice tied
to everyday issues ranging from land rights to toxic waste. Yet while white
ecologists have often been drawn to the work of environmental justice activists
such as Winona La Duke, often seeking their endorsement of the movement,
ecofeminism per se has not held significant appeal or relevance to women
engaged in local struggles for community and cultural survival. Women in
these movements tend to identify as ‘community5 or ‘environmental’ rather than
‘feminist5 activists. Though the two groups are primarily led by women
engaged in ecological concerns, there has been little overlap between
environmental justice organizing and ecofeminism.
In turn, the continuing segregation of communities of color and white
communities, combined with unresolved tendencies toward white bias within
feminist theory, have greatly impeded the formation of coalitions between
white ecofeminists and women of color active in the environmental justice
movement.
Within
this
context,
WomanEarth represented an important
moment in ecofeminist history. Recognizing that a multi-cultural, multi-racial
project such as WomanEarth would require intentional and careful planning
involving both white women and women of color from the beginning stages,
WomanEarth signaled an attempt by ecofeminists to address racial constraints
that hindered the movement from fulfilling its potential. Rare moments such as
WomanEarth reflect the racialized context of ecological politics in the U.S.,
complexifying abstract notions of ‘woman5 and ‘nature5 that lingered within
ecofeminist theory during these years.
There has been considerably greater overlap between ecofeminists in the
North and women in South engaged in development discourse. This coming
together was originally facilitated by two international conferences sponsored
by the United Nations (UN) Decade for Women designed to provide forums in
which women could meet to discuss their economic and social status in an
international setting. Launched in 1975, the Decade for Women intended to
trace the improving status of poor women in the Third World during the ten
years of a UN funded development campaign. However, the research instead
revealed that the lives of many poor women had actually worsened during the
ten years, as women had to bear not only the declining economic conditions