Group Members :

Dira Arista 2114026082

Raihana Yasmin 2114026079
Rani Adisty Putri 2114026089
Jesika 2114026076

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Ecofeminism

Ecofeminism, also called Ecological Feminism, branch of feminism that examines the connections
between women and nature. Its name was coined by French feminist Françoise d’Eaubonne in 1974. It
is the theory and practice of examining and challenging the political, social, historical,
epistemological, and conceptual links between the domination of women and the exploitation of
nature. It has evolved into a movement that connects all the “-isms” of domination, e.g., racism,
sexism, and classism, with the exploitation, degradation, and destruction of natural entities,
habitats, and ecosystems.
In a feminist book entitled Feminist Thought a More Comprehensive Introduction written by
Rosemarie Tong, stated that “ecofeminist focus on human beings’ domination of the nonhuman
world, or nature. Because women are culturally tied to nature, ecofeminists argue there are conceptual,
symbolic, and linguistic connections between feminist and ecological issues.”
According to Karen J. Warren, the Western world’s basic beliefs, values, attitudes, and assumptions
about itself and its inhabitants have been shaped by an oppressive patriarchal conceptual framework,
the purpose of which is to explain, justify, and maintain relationships of domination and subordination
in general and men’s domination of women in particular. The most significant features of this
framework are:
 Value-hierarchical thinking: “up-down” thinking, which places higher value, status, or prestige on
what is “up” rather than on what is “down”;
 Value dualisms: disjunctive pairs in which the disjuncts are seen as op- positional (rather than as
complementary) and exclusive (rather than as inclusive) and that place higher value (status,
prestige) on one disjunct rather than on the other (e.g., dualisms that give higher value or status to
that which has historically been identified as “mind,” “reason,” and “male” than to that which has
historically been identified as “body,” “emotion,” and “female”);
• Logic of domination: a structure of argumentation that leads to a justification of subordination.
1. Patriarchy’s hierarchical, dualistic, and oppressive mode of thinking has harmed both women and
nature, in Warren’s opinion. Indeed, because women have been “naturalized” and nature has been
“feminized,” it is difficult to know where the oppression of one ends and the other begins. Warren
emphasized women are “naturalized” when they are described in animal terms, such as “cows,
foxes, chicks, serpents, bitches, beavers, old bats, pussycats, cats, bird-brains, hare-brains.”
2. Similarly, nature is “feminized” when “she” is raped, mastered, conquered, controlled,
penetrated, subdued, and mined by men, or when “she” is venerated or even worshipped as the
 grandest mother of all. If man is the lord of nature, if he has been given dominion over it, then he
has control not only over nature but also over nature’s human analog, woman. Whatever man may
do to nature, he may also do to woman.
Although ecofeminists agree that the association of women with nature is the root cause of both
sexism and naturism, they disagree about whether women’s connections to nature are primarily
biological and psychological or primarily social and cultural. They also disagree about whether
women should de-emphasize, emphasize, or re-conceive their connections with nature.

2.2 Françoise d'Eaubonne and her Ecofeminism Theory

Françoise d'Eaubonne (1920-2005) was a leading French feminist who is credited with coining
the term "eco-feminism" in 1974. A former member of the French Communist Party, she co-
founded the Front homosexual d'action révolutionnaire in 1971 and created the Ecology-
Feminism Center in Paris in 1972. It was not until the 1974 publication of Le Féminisme ou la
Mort by French feminist author and civil rights activist Françoise d´Eaubonne (1920-2005) that a term
to describe feminist efforts and attitudes towards environmental practices was coined: Ecofeminism.
Ecofeminism is a relatively new variant of ecological ethics. In this work, d’Eaubonne expressed the
view that there exists a direct link between the oppression of women and the oppression of nature. She
claimed the liberation of one cannot be effected apart from the liberation of the other. She argues that
many parallels exist between the patriarchal suppression of women and the suppression of nature, and
this suppression results in environmental destruction. Since then, numerous theoretical and practical
additions to d´Eaubonne’s argument have been made. Many begin by collapsing patriarchal
dualisms:.male/female, nature/culture, and mind/body but come to fundamentally challenge dominant
epistemologies that inherently and efficiently bury other standpoints and ways of knowing. Issues such
as the exploitation of nature by industrial resource consumption and Western paradigms of progress
and technology have been explicitly designated as ecofeminist concerns. Furthermore, the ecofeminist
movement strives for anti-oppression practices, meaning a society free of hierarchy, in which all living
beings interact equally and are treated as parts of a common organism, the Earth.
A decade or so after d’Eaubonne coined the term, Karen J. Warren further specified four core
assumptions of ecofeminism:
(1) There are important connections between the oppression of women and the oppression of nature;
(2) understanding the nature of these con- nections is necessary to any adequate understanding of the
oppression of women and the oppression of nature;
(3) feminist theory and practice must include an ecological perspective; and
(4) solutions to ecological problems must include a feminist perspective.

2.3Four main Principles of Ecofeminism

1. Both the oppression of marginalized groups and the oppression of nature are connected by
cause. Patriarchal dominance, which presupposes masculine attributes are more valuable,
has led to the degradation of nature (land and animals), along with the marginalization of
groups, including but not limited to women, children, and people of color. Capitalism further
propels this oppression, as it places value on productivity by any means, and subsequently
 does not value many attributes considered feminine, including nature itself.

2. We must replace our culture of domination with an ethic of care. Ecofeminism advocates for
overhauling this entire masculine system of domination and exploitation—and replacing it
with an ethic of care, an approach to morality grounded in feminine characteristics of care
and nurturing. This approach focuses on human benevolence and acting in a way that
prioritizes care for others.
3. All forms of oppression are unacceptable—and interconnected. Under ecofeminism, all
forms of oppression are not acceptable. For environmentalism to be all-encompassing, it has
to consider all people.
4. Understanding these connections is necessary for equitable change. In order to make a real,
positive impact in both the cases of environmental degradation and the oppression of
marginalized groups, ecofeminism says we have to understand their links to patriarchal
society. Feminism must consider ecological concerns and vice versa.

References
Abram, M.H.(1999).A glossary of Literary terms 7th ed. USA: Heinle & heinle, a division of
Thomson learning, inc.
Tong, Rosemarie. (1975). Feminist Thought A More Comprehensive Introduction. Univiversity of
Nortth Carolina Charlotte.