Ecofeminism began as a term and quickly evolved into a worldwide movement that analyzes environmental issues through a gendered lens to better understand the impacts of said issues on a population. It acknowledges the oppression of women and the environment as rooted in the exploitation and domination of heteronormative patriarchal colonial ideology.
Ecofeminism is embedded in the understanding that the liberation of our environment is entrenched in the liberation of all marginalized genders. Additionally, it recognizes the disproportionate impacts of a worsening climate crisis on women and femmes, with nearly 80% of climate migrants being women.
Vandana Shiva and Wangari Maathai, two of the world’s most notable ecofeminists, lead the way in centering ecofeminism in perspectives of low-income, rural, women of color, often left out of white western ecofeminist conversations. In doing so, ecofeminism identifies the traditional ecological knowledge women hold as crucial to the overall well-being of their communities, and ultimately, the world at large.
Indigenous leaders take the stage during the Peoples’ Plenary at COP 26 in a bold statement and call to action. Ta’Kaiya Blaney denounced the conference as a mere performance, an illusion designed to uphold a capitalist economy that relies on resource extraction and colonialism, declaring that their aim was not to fix the agenda, but to disrupt it. Glasgow, Scotland, 2021.
Photography By Pamela EA
