Documentation:GRSJ224/FeministPoliticalEcology

Feminist Political Ecology (FPE) treats 'gender as a critical variable in shaping resource and control, interacting with class, caste, race, culture, and ethnicity to shape processes of ecological change, the struggle of men and women to sustain ecologically viable livelihoods, and the prospects of any community for sustainable development.'

FPE strives to avoid homogenizing women in populations and recognizes that women's identities and subjectivities are unique and always shifting. Therefore, public policy will provide every woman with a different experience. It is imperative to realize that environmental degradation is everybody's responsibility.

Origin

FPE first started gaining traction in the 1990's as a political movement which joined ideas from feminism and political ecology.

Political Ecology

FPE is a relatively young subsection of Political ecology. Political ecology is the study of the relationship between political economic and social factors with environmental issues. This interdisciplinary field addresses issues such as degradation, marginalization, and power relations.

Feminism

Feminism is an interdisciplinary approach to issues of equality by means of social theories and political activism. In the context of political ecology, it provides an essential intersectional lens through which one can make informed decisions about public and environmental policy.

Maternalism

The Merriam-Webster definition of maternalism states that it is a quality or state of having or showing maternal instincts. In the context of feminist political ecology, women's ecological activism is often falsely attributed to this concept.

Ecomaternalism is the perceived connection between women's caring for people and their environmental concern. A maternalism-based activism that does not incorporate a broader feminist analysis can keep women in the corner of normative femininity that society has pushed them into.

Ecofeminism

Many ecofeminist narratives stem from this concept. They often describe the story of apolitical housewives who are empowered to become political actors in order to protect their loved ones from an environmental threat to health (most often their children's health).

Scope

FPE strives to normalize women acting as citizens and public actors who are able to express their gender related concerns for environmental justice on their own accord.. This allows women as a whole to come away from the preconceived assumption that feminist eco-politics is built on the foundation of maternalism. It also employs an intersectional approach in order to address the androcentric fashion of policy making that is commonly put in place in many government bodies. It is simply not enough to think of when as a largely differentiated category.. This intersectional approach is also used to investigate how power and gender inequalities shape people's subjectivities at a local and global level.

Gendered Issues

Using a feminist lens when discussing environmental decision and issues is extremely important because of preexisting socially constructed gender roles. In developing countries, women are typically expected to carry out household tasks such as fetching water or agricultural responsibilities while men are often responsible for the majority of the household's monetary income.

Chemicals and Pollution

An example of an issue which requires a gender based analysis in order to fully realize it's effect would be chemical and pollution. As previously stated, there is a largely gendered division of labour in private and public arenas. For example, men dominate the paid mining sector and are exposed to chemicals there, while women are more likely to be active in paid or unpaid agricultural activities are are exposed to different chemicals there.

In this example, it is clear how a gendered political analysis must be applied in order for all members of the community to equally benefit from public policy. The absence of one gender or identity in policy making can be devastating.

Water

Women and girls play a central role in the up keeping and sanitation of the home, which includes fetching freshwater. Water is a prerequisite for cleaning, cooking, and gardening. Unfortunately, projects intended to improve a nations economic state such as dam construction may actually worsen living conditions for families who rely on local freshwater sources by drying these local bodies up. A gender analysis is needed in the management of this resource because the lack of access to water decreases women's contributions to their home, family, and agricultural practices.

Criticisms

There are many critics that argue against the use of strategic essentialism. Some activist who believe their word to be under the umbrella of FPE may make essentialist claims I order to gain attention to their cause. While this may be initially beneficial as their campaigns rise in popularity, they may be labelled as hypocritical or sloppy when they suddenly redact their initial claims that homogenized women into a single population and replace them with new ideas. Furthermore, strategic essentialism also contradicts one of the core principles of FPE: to avoid homogenizing women's lived experiences.

Popularity

Gendered issues in ecological policy making are often not widely known, therefore this topic is most popular with those who are familiar with these disparities such as feminist environmental scholars and political ecologists. Through their work, they are spreading concrete ideas and examples of why feminist political ecology is an important topic in contemporary policy making.