North America

The Effects of Resource Extraction on Inuit Women and Their Families: Evidence from Canada

Citation:

Nightingale, Elana, Karina Czyzewski, Frank Tester, and Nadia Aaruaq. 2017. “The Effects of Resource Extraction on Inuit Women and Their Families: Evidence from Canada.” Gender & Development 25 (3): 367–85. 

Authors: Elana Nightingale, Karina Czyzewski, Frank Tester, Nadia Aaruaq

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
This article presents the findings from research conducted by Pauktuutit, an Inuit women’s organisation, and the University of British Colombia into the gendered social impacts of resource extraction in Qamani’tuaq, Nunavut Territory, Canada. The research used a range of different methods and contributes to a growing body of global evidence on the social impacts of resource extraction on indigenous women and families. It reveals the complex effects of resource extraction on Inuit women’s lives, at the individual, family, and community levels. This kind of research is urgently required to ensure that policies on natural resource extraction are developed that support the interests and needs of the women, men, and children most affected by mining.

SPANISH ABSTRACT:
El presente artículo da cuenta de los resultados surgidos de estudios sobre los impactos sociales que la extracción de recursos en Qamani’tuaq, territorio de Nunavut, Canadá, provocan a nivel de género. Dichos estudios fueron realizados por Pauktuuit, una organización de mujeres inuit, y la Universidad de Columbia Británica. La investigación utilizó varios métodos diferentes, pretendiendo contribuir al conjunto de pruebas existentes a nivel mundial sobre los impactos sociales producidos por la extracción de recursos en las mujeres y las familias indígenas. Asimismo, da cuenta de los complejos efectos que la extracción de recursos tiene en la vida de las mujeres, tanto a nivel individual como familiar y comunitario. Por esta razón resulta urgente impulsar este tipo de investigaciones a fin de garantizar que las políticas vinculadas a la extracción de recursos naturales sean diseñadas para apoyar los intereses y las necesidades de las mujeres, los hombres y los niños más afectados por la actividad minera.

FRENCH ABSTRACT:
Cet article présente les conclusions de recherches menées par Pauktuuit, une organisation de femmes inuites, et de l’Université de la Colombie-Britannique, sur les impacts sociaux sexo-spécifiques de l’extraction des ressources à Qamani’tuaq, dans le territoire canadien Nunavut. Ce projet de recherche a eu recours à une variété de méthodes et il contribue à un ensemble croissant de données factuelles mondiales sur les impacts sociaux de l’extraction des ressources sur la vie des femmes inuites, aux niveaux individuel, familial et communautaire. D’autres travaux de recherche de ce type sont requis de toute urgence pour veiller à l’élaboration de politiques relatives à l’extraction des ressources qui soutiennent les intérêts et les besoins des femmes, des hommes et des enfants les plus gravement touchés par les activités minières.

Keywords: Inuit, indigenous, mining, resource extraction, gender, women, Arctic, Canada

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Indigenous Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Canada

Year: 2017

Impact Assessment and Responsible Business Guidance Tools in the Extractive Sector: Implications for Human Rights, Gender and Stakeholder Engagement

Citation:

Simons, Penelope, Naiomi Metallic, Meinhard Doelle, Bayo Majekolagbe, and Sara Seck. 2020. “Impact Assessment and Responsible Business Guidance Tools in the Extractive Sector: Implications for Human Rights, Gender and Stakeholder Engagement.” Draft Final Report for the SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant: Informing Best Practices in Environmental and Impact Assessments, Responsible Business Conduct and Impact Assessment Law, Marine and Environmental Institute, Schulrich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.

Authors: Penelope Simons, Naiomi Metallic, Meinhard Doelle, Bayo Majekolagbe, Sara Seck

Abstract:

This report aims to identify RBC tools referenced in the literature as relevant and/or promoted to Canadian extractive companies operating within and outside Canada. While not appraising or pronouncing on the quality of RBC tools, we consider the different actors that promote these diverse tools and whether there is a coherent framework for the efficient and effective application of current and future tools. We focus on RBC tools on human rights, stakeholder engagement, the rights of Indigenous peoples, and the rights of women and girls. Further, we review the position of scholars on the relationship between RBC and IA.

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Girls, Women, Indigenous, Rights, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Canada

Year: 2020

Women’s Organizing against Extractivism: Towards a Decolonial Multi-Sited Analysis

Citation:

Caretta, Martina Angela, Sofia Zaragocin, Bethani Turley, and Kamila Torres Orellana. 2020. “Women’s Organizing against Extractivism: Towards a Decolonial Multi-Sited Analysis.” Human Geography 13 (1): 49–59.

Authors: Martina Angela Caretta, Sofia Zaragocin, Bethani Turley, Kamila Torres Orellana

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
In Anglophone geography, proposals have called for the decolonization of geographical knowledge production to be focused on tangible and material manifestations of how dialogue is initiated and mediated among different ontologies and epistemologies. We strive to respond to this call by empirically cutting across the American continent to highlight the embodied and transnational dimensions of natural resource extraction. Across the Americas, extractive industries’ water usage often brings corporations into prolonged conflicts with local communities, who mobilize to resist the initiation and/or expansion of extractive activities that they view as threatening to their health, way of life, and their families and communities’ territories. Through two case studies from West Virginia (WV), USA, and Cuenca, Ecuador, we propose an analytical framework capturing how women organize against the extractive industry as a result of embodied water pollution. We do this with the aim of decolonizing geographical knowledge production, as we propose a decolonial, multi-sited analytical approach, which serves to rethink the scale of effects of extractive industry. By showing how resource extraction affects women’s bodies and water while also effectively allowing us to compare and contrast embodied water relations in WV and Ecuador, we better understand how extractivism works across scales—the body, the environment, and transnationally. We contend that a multi-sited approach disrupts the North–South geographical discursive divide and furthers a decolonial geographical approach in making apparent the embodied production and lived experience of territory across various scales. In this piece, we promote debates on decoloniality within Anglophone geography by proposing that we must not only consider epistemologies and spatial ontologies outside the western canon, but engage with practices and theories occurring in different parts of the globe in a simultaneous fashion as well. We call on fellow geographers to do the same.

SPANISH ABSTRACT:
En la geografía anglófona, las propuestas han pedido que la descolonización de la producción de conocimiento geográfico se centre en manifestaciones tangibles y materiales de cómo se inicia y media el diálogo entre las diferentes ontologías y epistemologías. Nos esforzamos por responder a este llamado cortando empíricamente a través del continente americano para resaltar las dimensiones encarnadas y transnacionales de la extracción de recursos naturales. En todo el continente americano, el uso del agua de las industrias extractivas a menudo lleva a las empresas a conflictos prolongados con las comunidades locales, que se movilizan para resistir el inicio y / o la expansión de actividades extractivas que consideran amenazadoras para su salud, formas de vida y sus familias y los territorios de sus comunidades. A través de dos estudios de caso de West Virginia (WV), EE. UU. y Cuenca, Ecuador, proponemos un marco analítico que muestra cómo las mujeres se organizan contra la industria extractiva como resultado de la contaminación del agua. Hacemos esto con el objetivo de descolonizar la producción de conocimiento geográfico, ya que proponemos un enfoque analítico descolonial y de múltiples ubicaciones, que sirve para repensar la escala de efectos de la industria extractiva. Al mostrar cómo la extracción de recursos afecta los cuerpos y el agua de las mujeres y, al mismo tiempo, comparar y contrastar de manera efectiva las relaciones hídricas incorporadas en VM y Ecuador, comprendemos mejor cómo funciona el extractivismo en diferentes escalas: el cuerpo, el medio ambiente y transnacionalmente. Sostenemos que un enfoque de múltiples ubicaciones interrumpe la división discursiva geográfica Norte-Sur y promueve un enfoque geográfico descolonial al hacer evidente la producción encarnada y la experiencia vivida del territorio a varias escalas. En este artículo, promovemos debates sobre la descolonialidad dentro de la geografía anglófona al proponer que no solo debemos considerar las epistemologías y las ontologías espaciales fuera del canon occidental, sino también involucrarnos en prácticas y teorías que ocurren en diferentes partes del mundo de manera simultánea. Hacemos un llamado a otros geógrafos para que hagan lo mismo.

Keywords: Ecuador, extractivism, decoloniality, West Virginia, women, extractivismo, Mujeres, descolonialidad, Virginia Occidental

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Environment, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Health, Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation Regions: Americas, North America, South America Countries: Ecuador, United States of America

Year: 2020

Ecology Is a Sistah’s Issue Too: The Politics of Emergent Afrocentric Ecowomanism

Citation:

Riley, Shamara Shantu. 2003. “Ecology Is a Sistah’s Issue Too: The Politics of Emergent Afrocentric Ecowomanism.” In This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment, edited by Roger S. Gottlieb, 368–81. Abingdon: Routledge. 

Author: Shamara Shantu Riley

Annotation:

Summary:
“The extinction of species on our ancestral continent, the “mortality of wealth,” and hazardous-waste contamination in our backyards ought to be reasons enough for Black womanists to consider the environment as a central issue of our political agendas. However, there are other reasons the environment should be central to our struggles for social justice. The global environmental crisis is related to the sociopolitical systems of fear and hatred of all that is natural, nonwhite, and female that has pervaded dominant Western thought for centuries. I contend that the social constructions of race, gender, class and nonhuman nature in mainstream Western thought are interconnected by an ideology of domination. Specific instances of the emergent Afrocentric ecowomanist activism in Africa and the United States, as well as West African spiritual principles that propose a method of overcoming dualism, will be discussed in this paper" (Shantu 2003, 369).

Topics: Class, Environment, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Race Regions: Africa, West Africa, Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2003

Ecofeminism and Forest Defense in Cascadia: Gender, Theory and Radical Activism

Citation:

Mallory, Chaone. 2006. “Ecofeminism and Forest Defense in Cascadia: Gender, Theory and Radical Activism.” Capitalism Nature Socialism 17 (1): 32–49.

Author: Chaone Mallory

Annotation:

Summary:
"[T]he intent of this essay is to report on the radical activism that began in the summer of 2003 and has continued through the present (fall of 2005) by women in the Pacific Northwest. I look at how such activisms represent an explicit and direct integration of feminism with environmentalism that should encourage and inspire ecoliberatory theorists such as ecofeminists, ecosocialists, green anarchists, and deep ecologists. I also consider how such activism exemplifies the kind of intersection of theory and praxis long sought by ecofeminist, ecosocialist, and other scholars concerned with liberation. I explore these questions using the analytic tools developed through the academic discourse of ecofeminism to examine how both gender identity and movement-generated understandings of the intersection of oppressions affects, informs, and produces environmental activisms. Such an analysis, done in the context of women’s direct action forest defense in the Pacific Northwest, reveals interesting and important knowledges about the character of the interrelation between ideas and action, a subject of long-standing interest to those engaged in the practice of environmental theory. Such an analysis also advances the liberatory goals of ecotheorists and ecoactivists by contributing to the development of a robust, efficacious ecofeminist political theory that does not reinscribe a theory/activism dualism." (Mallory 2006, 34-5).

 

Topics: Environment, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Women Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Canada, United States of America

Year: 2006

Ecofeminist Cosmology in Practice: Genesis Farm and the Embodiment of Sustainable Solutions

Citation:

Godfrey, Phoebe C. 2008. “Ecofeminist Cosmology in Practice: Genesis Farm and the Embodiment of Sustainable Solutions.” Capitalism Nature Socialism 19 (2): 96–114.

Author: Phoebe C. Godfrey

Annotation:

Summary:
“Heather Eaton's article, “Feminist or Functional Cosmology? Ecofeminist Musings on Thomas Berry's Functional Cosmology,” explores Berry's notion of a functional cosmology and questions some of its implications from an ecofeminist perspective. She concludes that functional cosmology and ecofeminism are “incomplete” alone, but that “[t]ogether these could be powerful allies in transforming the world, respecting the Earth, and honoring the holy.” Thus, my objective here is to support Eaton's assertion that Berry's functional cosmology and ecofeminism need each other. Further, I will propose that Genesis Farm, a 140-acre farm and Learning Center for the Earth in northern New Jersey founded by Dominican Sisters, is an example of “ecofeminist cosmology” in practice. As such, I want to show how through their holistic solutions to the growing ecological crisis of global capitalism, the Green Sisters at Genesis Farm, like others around the world, are embodying Eaton's notion of an ecofeminist cosmology, demonstrating that not only could it play a part in “transforming the world, respecting the Earth and honoring the holy,” but that it already is doing this in a locally based, yet globally focused way” (Godfrey 2008).

Topics: Environment, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Religion Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2008

Ecofeminism in Two Worlds

Citation:

Hawthorne, Susan. 2005. “Ecofeminism in Two Worlds.” Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 16 (4): 145–47.

Author: Susan Hawthorne

Annotation:

Summary:
"These 2005 conferences suggest a growing engagement with ecofeminist concerns among feminist theorists. My hope is that alongside this theory, there is also a growing engagement with intersections between the inbuilt violence of globalization, free trade, war, fundamentalism and anti-feminism. That is, ecofeminism must remain trenchantly political if it is to be relevant. But it seems that feminist conferences these days do not end up even attempting to outline a forward position. Have we lost the skill and political will to do that?" (Hawthrone 2005, 147).

Topics: Economies, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Globalization Regions: Americas, North America, Asia, East Asia Countries: South Korea, United States of America

Year: 2005

Transmobilities: Mobility, Harassment, and Violence Experienced by Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Public Transit Riders in Portland, Oregon

Citation:

Lubitow, Amy, JaDee Carathers, Maura Kelly, and Miriam Abelson. 2017. “Transmobilities: Mobility, Harassment, and Violence Experienced by Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Public Transit Riders in Portland, Oregon.” Gender, Place & Culture 24 (10): 1398–418.

Authors: Amy Lubitow, JaDee Carathers, Maura Kelly, Miriam Abelson

Abstract:

This research endeavours to fill a conceptual gap in the social science literature on gender, public space, and urban mobilities by exploring how transgender and gender nonconforming individuals experience public transit. Although previous research has surveyed gender minorities about harassment and discrimination in a range of environments, little is known about the quality or content of these experiences. Drawing from 25 interviews with transgender and gender nonconforming individuals in Portland, Oregon, this article finds that gender minorities experience frequent harassment while engaging with the public transit system. We articulate the concept of transmobilites to describe the ways that transgender and gender nonconforming individuals experience a form of mobility that is altered, shaped, and informed by a broader cultural system that normalizes violence and harassment towards gender minorities. We conclude that gender minorities have unequal access to safe and accessible public transportation when harassment is widespread, normalized, and when policies prohibiting discrimination remain unenforced on urban public transit.

Keywords: gender minorities, harassment and discrimination, non-hegemonic mobilities, public transportation, transmobilities, urban mobility

Topics: Gender, Infrastructure, Transportation, LGBTQ, Violence Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2017

Patriarchy and (Electric) Power? A Feminist Political Ecology of Solar Energy Use in Mexico and the United States

Citation:

Buechler, Stephanie, Verónica Vázquez-García, Karina Guadalupe Martínez-Molina, and Dulce María Sosa-Capistrán. 2020. “Patriarchy and (Electric) Power? A Feminist Political Ecology of Solar Energy Use in Mexico and the United States.” Energy Research & Social Science 70: 1-10.

Authors: Stephanie Buechler, Verónica Vázquez-García, Karina Guadalupe Martínez-Molina, Dulce María Sosa-Capistrán

Abstract:

This study combines the use of feminist political ecology and a water-energy-food nexus lens to analyze gender, age and social class in women’s experiences with small-scale solar energy projects in urban and rural Arizona, USA and Zacatecas, Mexico. Unlike fossil fuels, renewable energy lends itself to more decentralized forms of production, offering an opportunity for individuals and communities (rather than corporations) to shape a more sustainable energy landscape. Understanding women’s roles and needs related to small-scale solar energy projects is essential; women remain the most important decision-makers and laborers for household and small-scale livelihood-related energy use. The study focused on the roles of women community leaders and male self-taught innovators in small-scale solar energy technology training, uptake and dissemination. It also analyzed barriers for elderly and low-income women to access solar energy. Most of the solar energy was related to water use for household chores or for irrigation of urban or rural agriculture. Some projects assisted women in meeting their household and livelihood needs in multiple ways and were part of broader household and community-level sustainability initiatives. The policy and institutional context in which the small-scale projects were inserted shaped women’s access to training and technologies. Some projects and programs missed the very populations they were intended to serve due to funding politicization. 

 

Keywords: feminist political ecology, WEF nexus, solar energy, women, Arizona, Zacatecas

Topics: Age, Class, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Women, Infrastructure, Energy, Livelihoods Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Mexico, United States of America

Year: 2020

Canada’s Feminist Foreign Policy and the SDGs: Working with Business to Address Gender Inequality

Citation:

Kilgour, Maureen A.. 2020. “Canada’s Feminist Foreign Policy and the SDGs: Working with Business to Address Gender Inequality.” In ​Struggles and Successes in the Pursuit of Sustainable Development,​ edited by Tay Keong Tan, Milenko Gudic, and Patricia M. Flynn. New York: Routledge.

Author: Maureen A. Kilgour

Abstract:

Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are critical elements in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). State governments, businesses and civil society have all been asked to work toward the achievement of the SDGs. Given the complexity of the current global governance regime and the overlapping interests among the various actors, collaboration and innovation are required to move toward the achievement of these goals. The Canadian government (Canada) has historically been a strong advocate for international action on gender inequality. This engagement was formalized in 2017, when the Canadian government committed to a “feminist” foreign policy. The goal of this chapter is to discuss the early successes and challenges in the implementation of a “feminist” approach to the attainment of the SDGs with a focus on Canada’s relationship with business. It examines areas of interaction between Canada’s feminist policy in support of the SDGs and business and identifies both strengths and weaknesses. A review of Canada’s SDG initiatives in support of gender equality provides insights into the ways in which governments intersect with business on sustainability issues and highlights areas of interrogation for responsible management education, especially in the area of gender equality. 

Topics: Development, Feminisms, Feminist Foreign Policy, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Canada

Year: 2020

Pages

© 2024 CONSORTIUM ON GENDER, SECURITY & HUMAN RIGHTSLEGAL STATEMENT All photographs used on this site, and any materials posted on it, are the property of their respective owners, and are used by permission. Photographs: The images used on the site may not be downloaded, used, or reproduced in any way without the permission of the owner of the image. Materials: Visitors to the site are welcome to peruse the materials posted for their own research or for educational purposes. These materials, whether the property of the Consortium or of another, may only be reproduced with the permission of the owner of the material. This website contains copyrighted materials. The Consortium believes that any use of copyrighted material on this site is both permissive and in accordance with the Fair Use doctrine of 17 U.S.C. § 107. If, however, you believe that your intellectual property rights have been violated, please contact the Consortium at info@genderandsecurity.org.

Subscribe to RSS - North America