Feminist Political Ecology

Citation:

Ressureción, Bernadette P. 2017. “Gender and Environment from ‘Women, Environment, and Development’ to Feminist Political Ecology.” In Routledge Handbook of Gender and Environment, 71-84. Oxon: Routledge.

Author: Bernadette P. Ressureción

Annotation:

Summary:
“This chapter provides an overview of gender, environment, and development scholarship that explains how early ideas and debates that have shaped subsequent work. My aim is to demonstrate how this field has evolved over time and how it has now come to understand two of the most pressing challenges of this century: climate change and disaster risk. While there remains a number of different approaches to studying gender-environment connections, in the discussion that follows I focus on feminist political ecology (FPE). FPE has evolved as a loose platform of ideas that seeks to theorize differentiated forms of power and resource access primarily but not exclusively in developing county contexts. FPE grew out of a desire to foreground the political aspects of earlier frameworks, as well as to analyze the growing neoliberalization of nature in capitalist development processes. It draws on feminist poststructuralist theory in order to criticize the domination of techno-scientific solutions to environmental change that sidestep more holistic and grounded approaches. I argue that at a time when there is a dire need to address the exigent features of climate change and disaster policy discourses, FPE offers valuable insights into human-nature relations that can contribute to more grounded analyses and better solutions. Understanding how women and men, as embodied and emotional beings, have complex and shifting relationships to the natural world that are embedded in place and shaped by intersections of gender, race, class, caste, culture, age (and so on) is central to the search for environmental and social justice. An FPE lens provides tools for envisioning transformative changes that are much needed in these troubling times” (Resurrección 2017, 71).

Topics: Development, Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Gender Roles

Year: 2017

Citation:

Perkins, Ellie. 1997. “Women, Ecology and Economics: New Models and Theories.” Ecological Economics, Women, Ecology and Economics 20 (2): 105–106.

Author: Ellie Perkins

Annotation:

Summary:
“In envisioning a special issue of this journal which would focus on the connections between women, ecology and economics, our initial goal was to provide a forum for discussion around very concrete examples of why women are (and should be!) concerned with ecological economics. Flowing from my initial discussions with several colleagues and students, who all thought such a forum was a great idea and long overdue, a number of specific suggestions emerged.

The Call for Papers mentioned such possible topics as "The parallels between women's work, environmental services and natural resource use with regard to valuation, status as 'externalities,' sustainability, complementarity with financial capital, incorporation in national accounts, etc.; the role of women in creating the conditions for sustainable economies and sustainable trade; women's health as an environmental and economic issue; the economic implications of women's position as environmental stewards, especially in the South; and the impact of globalization on women, from an ecological economics perspective." The journal's editors suggested an additional topic of interest which we listed as 'women and population policy.'

…the degree of complementarity and balance in the work of authors from all over the globe is astounding. While the models differ somewhat in emphasis and form, all those we received take as a starting point the unpaid work which is vitally necessary to build and maintain homes, human relationships, and communities -- and without which there is no 'economy'. ~ Whether her paper is theoretical or empirical, however, each author chooses a unique focus for her inquiry, tracing different ecological connections” (Perkins 1997, 105).

Topics: Economies, Ecological Economics, Environment, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Feminist Political Economy, Gender, Women

Year: 1997

Citation:

Nyantaki-Frimpong, Hanson. 2019. “Visualizing Politics: A Feminist Political Ecology and Participatory GIS Approach to Understanding Smallholder Farming, Climate Change Vulnerability, and Seed Bank Failures in Northern Ghana.” Geoforum 105: 109-21.

Author: Hanson Nyantaki-Frimpong

Abstract:

Over the past three decades, seeds banks have emerged as a major strategy for building seed systems resilience to climate change. Often initiated and funded by non-governmental organizations, seeds banks have grown prolifically, but questions remain concerning their long-term sustainability. Despite their precipitous rise, and effectives during initial years, many seed banks cut back on activities or stop altogether once external NGO funding is withdrawn. This rise and fall of seed banks raise three questions worthy of examination: (1) What factors shape the sustainability of community seed banks? (2) Do community seed banks function as they are designed to be? (3) How well do seed banks target farmers based upon true underlying need? Drawing upon insights from feminist political ecology (FPE) and Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS), this paper examines these questions with data collected from drought-prone northern Ghana. The empirical research includes participant-observations; 144 in-depth interviews; participatory geospatial data analysis; gender-disaggregated data validation workshops; and analyses of seed bank inventory, lending, and payment records. Contrary to previous work emphasizing the role of climate variability and crop failure, this paper highlights the centrality of rural politics in the sustainability of seed banks. Specifically, the findings show that the lack of respect for indigenous knowledge, pseudo seed borrowing, and local elite capture, all work together to undermine the sustainability of seed banks. When seed banks do not meet farmers’ needs, the paper also demonstrates how farmers covertly resist such projects. Finally, the paper shows how through a repertoire of gender politics, village men undermine seed banks’ vision of ensuring equitable and democratic access to seeds. Overall, the paper contributes to existing research by demonstrating how FPE and PGIS could be used in parallel to permit a more rigorous testing of claims of village and gender politics on the ground.

Keywords: seed banks, smallholder agriculture, climate vulnerability, feminist political ecology, participatory GIS, Ghana

Topics: Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, NGOs Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana

Year: 2019

Citation:

Nyantaki-Frimpong, Hanson. 2019. “Combining Feminist Political Ecology and Participatory Diagramming to Study Climate Information Service Delivery and Knowledge Flows among Smallholder Farmers in Northern Ghana.” Applied Geography 112: 1-17.

Author: Hanson Nyantaki-Frimpong

Abstract:

Using innovative diagramming and a feminist political ecology (FPE) approach, this paper examines gender, power, and equity considerations in the delivery of climate information service (CIS) to smallholder farmers. Based upon a multi-method triangulation fieldwork involving a survey (n = 998), participatory listing and scoring activities (n = 82), and network diagramming (n = 180), the paper illuminates several structural barriers to acquiring CIS. These barriers include gender norms and expectations, patriarchal values, time poverty, and the format in which technical climate forecasts are presented to illiterate farmers. Another key finding is the multiple subject positions beyond gender within which women are embedded, such as the intersection of seniority, religion, class, and positions within households, that further reconfigure access to CIS. In addition to contributing to emerging intersectional research in FPE, the paper proposes innovative ways of studying household relations and politics. More specifically, it illustrates how feminist political ecologists could deploy participatory network diagramming to provide a nuanced, powerful, and graphic account of subtle politics at the household scale.

Keywords: climate information service, smallholder farmers, Gender, participatory diagramming, feminist political ecology, Ghana

Topics: Age, Class, Agriculture, Environment, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Households, Intersectionality, Religion Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana

Year: 2019

Citation:

Nyantaki-Frimpong, Hanson. 2017. “Agricultural Diversification and Dietary Diversity: a Feminist Political Ecology of the Everyday Experiences of Landless and Smallholder Households in Northern Ghana.” Geoforum 86: 63-75.

Author: Hanson Nyantaki-Frimpong

Abstract:

There is an emerging literature suggesting that when smallholder households diversify their agriculture, a wide range of food groups will be available, and consequently, dietary diversity will be improved. The present article brings this literature into critical conversation with research in feminist political ecology. Grounded in five years of repeated fieldwork, the article weaves together 70 in-depth interviews, and dietary as well as farm production diversity data from 30 households in northern Ghana. This dataset is analyzed by considering not only the diversity of farming systems, but also household headship, including male-headed, de facto female-headed, and de jure female-headed. Among other findings, the paper suggests that dietary diversity scores are lowest for households who have lost their farmlands to on-going land grabbing in Ghana. Furthermore, the paper suggests that while agricultural diversification is essential, it is not sufficient in itself to address nutritional challenges confronting smallholder households. In the contested and political arena of the household, the gendered politics of access to food can deeply shape how agricultural diversification contributes to dietary diversity. Overall, I do not wish to conclude that there are no benefits of increasing the diversity of farm production. Rather, I wish to stress that farm production diversity might not be the best or only strategy to improving dietary diversity among rural households. Through this case study, I also contribute to emerging research in new feminist political ecologies by demonstrating how the intersection of gender, seniority, marital status, and sexual politics shapes resource access and control.

Keywords: farm production diversity, dietary diversity, land, Gender, feminist political ecology, Ghana

Topics: Agriculture, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Women, Households, Intersectionality, Land Grabbing Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana

Year: 2017

Citation:

Lutz-Ley, América, and Stephanie J. Buechler. 2020. “Mining and Women in Northwest Mexico: a Feminist Political Ecology Approach to Impacts on Rural Livelihoods.” Human Geography 13 (1): 74-84.

Authors: América Lutz-Ley, Stephanie J. Buechler

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: 
Women’s participation in large-scale mining (LSM) has been increasing in Mexico and worldwide; however, few comprehensive studies exist on the socioeconomic effects of mining on women depending on the specific roles they play in this activity. The objective of this study was to analyze, from a feminist political ecology perspective, the effects of mining on women in a rural community in Sonora State, in arid northwest Mexico, a region with important participation of LSM in the country. For this purpose, we developed a mixed methods approach combining literature review on gender and LSM, semistructured indepth interviews, and analysis of secondary government data. Most literature on women and mining treats them conceptually as a homogeneous social group or focuses on only one role women play in mining. We address this gap by identifying several roles women can play in their interactions with the mining sector and then analyzing and comparing the effects of mining associated with these distinctive roles. In doing so, we unravel the gendered complexities of mining and highlight the socioecological contradictions embedded in these dynamics for individual women who are faced with significant trade-offs. Mining can provide economic and professional opportunities for women of varying educational and socioeconomic levels in otherwise impoverished and landless rural households. At the same time, women are unable to, as one interviewee phrased it, “break the glass ceiling even if using a miner’s helmet,” especially in managerial positions. Extraction of natural resources in the community is accompanied by the extraction of social capital and personal lives of miners. We give voice to the social– ecological contradictions lived by women in these multiple roles and offer potential insights both for addressing gender-based inequities in mining and for avenues toward collective action and empowerment.

SPANISH ABSTRACT: 
La participación de las mujeres en la minería de gran escala se ha incrementado en México y alrededor del mundo; sin embargo, existen escasos estudios comprehensivos de los efectos socioeconómicos de la minería sobre las mujeres dependiendo de los roles específicos que ellas juegan en esta actividad. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar, desde la perspectiva de la ecología política feminista, los efectos de la minería sobre mujeres de una comunidad rural del estado de Sonora, en el noroeste árido de México; una región con importante participación de la minería de gran escala en el país. Con este propósito desarrollamos un acercamiento metodológico mixto, combinando el análisis de literatura sobre género y minería de gran escala, con entrevistas semiestructuradas y análisis de datos secundarios producidos por agencias gubernamentales. La mayoría de los estudios sobre mujeres y minería las concibe conceptualmente como un grupo social homogéneo, o se centran solamente en uno o dos roles de las mujeres en la minería. En este trabajo se cubre esta brecha mediante la identificación de múltiples roles que las mujeres pueden desempeñar en sus interacciones con el sector minero y el análisis comparativo de los efectos de la minería asociados con estos distintos roles. De esta manera, se desentrañan las complejidades de la minería vistas desde el género y se enfatizan las contradicciones socio-ecológicas inmersas en estas dinámicas para mujeres que enfrentan costos individuales significativos. La minería puede proveer oportunidades económicas y profesionales para mujeres de distintos niveles educativos y socioeconómicos en hogares rurales empobrecidos o sin tierras productivas. Al mismo tiempo, las mujeres no han podido, en palabras de una minera, “romper el techo de cristal ni usando un casco minero”, especialmente en posiciones de mando. La extracción de recursos naturales en la comunidad se acompaña de la extracción de capital social y el tiempo de vida personal de las mineras. Se da voz a las contradicciones socio-ecológicas vividas por mujeres que ocupan estos múltiples roles y se ofrecen visiones potenciales para atender estas inequidades basadas en el género en la minería, así como posibles caminos hacia la acción colectiva y el empoderamiento.

Keywords: women in mining, feminist political ecology, rural livelihoods, northwest Mexico, extractivism, mujeres en la minería, ecología política feminista, medios de vida rurales, noroeste de México, extractivismo

Topics: Environment, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Livelihoods Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Mexico

Year: 2020

Citation:

Buechler, Stephanie, and Anne-Marie S. Hanson, eds. 2015. A Political Ecology of Women, Water and Global Environmental Change. New York: Routledge.

Authors: Stephanie Buechler, ed. , Anne-Marie S. Hanson, ed.

Annotation:

Anne-Marie Hanson and Stephanie Buechler

2. Interrogating Large-Scale Development and Inequality in Lesotho: Bridging Feminist Political Ecology, Intersectionality and Environmental Justice Frameworks
Yvonne Braun

3. The Silent (and Gendered) Violence: Understanding Water Access in Mining Areas
Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt

4. Urban Water Visibility in Los Angeles: Legibility and Access for All
Kathleen Kambic

5. Advances and Setbacks in Women’s Participation in Water Management in Brazil
Andrea Moraes

6. Climate-Water Challenges and Gendered Adaptation Strategies in Rayon, a Riparian Community in Sonora, Mexico
Stephanie Buechler

7. International Partnerships of Women for Sustainable Watershed Governance in Times of Climate Change
Patricia E. (Ellie) Perkins and Patricia Figuieredo Walker

8. Women’s Contributions to Climate Change Adaptation in Egypt’s Mubarak Resettlement Scheme through Cactus Cultivation and Adjusted Irrigation
Dina Najjar

9. Shoes in the Seaweed and Bottles on the Beach: Global Garbage and Women’s Oral Histories of Socio-Environmental Change in Coastal Yucatán
Anne-Marie Hanson

10. Heen Kas’ el’ti Zoo: Among the Ragged Lakes – Storytelling and Collaborative Water Research with Carcoss/Tagish First Nation (Yukon Territory, Canada)
Eleanor Hayman with Mark Wedge and Colleen James

11. Pamiri Women and the Melting Glaciers of Tajikistan: A Visual Knowledge Exchange for Improved Environmental Governance
Citt Williams and Ivan Golovnev

12. Conclusion: Advancing Disciplinary Scholarship on Gender, Water and Environmental Change through Feminist Political Ecology
Stephanie Buechler, Anne-Marie Hanson, Diana Liverman and Miriam Gay-Antaki

Topics: Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Women, Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation, Intersectionality, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, MENA, Central Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, Americas, North America, South America, Asia, Central Asia, Middle East, South Asia Countries: Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Lesotho, Mexico

Year: 2015

Citation:

Indirastuti, Catharina, and Andi Misbahul Pratiwi. 2019. “When Wetlands Dry: Feminist Political Ecology Study on Peat Ecosystem Degradation in South and Central Kalimantan.” Jurnal Perempuan 24 (4): 335-49.

Authors: Catharine Indirastuti, Andi Misbahul

Abstract:

INDONESIAN ABSTRACT: 

Indonesia memiliki 47 persen lahan gambut tropis dari total lahan gambut dunia. Namun sayangnya tata kelola lahan gambut yang berkelanjutan belum banyak diterapkan dalam pemanfaatan lahan gambut, alih-alih menjadi rumah bagi keanekaragaman hayati, lahan gambut di Indonesia justru berakhir kering, terbakar, dan beralih menjadi perkebunan monokultur. Persoalan degradasi ekosistem gambut adalah akibat dari politik tata kelola lingkungan yang tidak berkelanjutan--yang menyejarah. Penelitian ini memperlihatkan kompleksitas politik tata kelola kawasan gambut dan dampaknya terhadap perempuan dengan lensa ekologi politik feminis. Penelitian ini dilakukan di beberapa desa di Kalimantan Tengah dan Selatan, kawasan gambut tropis terbesar di Indonesia. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa 1) Ada persoalan salah tata kelola lahan gambut yang disadari perempuan desa baik secara praktis maupun politis; 2) perempuan dan anak perempuan mendapatkan dampak berlapis dari degradasi ekosistem gambut yakni, perempuan tercerabut dari ruang hidup, perempuan sulit mendapatkan sumber air dan pangan, perempuan mengambil alih peran kepala keluarga karena laki-laki bermigrasi namun tidak selalu diakui perannya sebagai kepala keluarga, dan perempuan dimiskinkan karena kehilangan kemandiriannya dan harus bekerja sebagai buruh sawit. Penelitian ini menggunakan kajian ekologi politik feminis sebagai alat analisis untuk melihat ketertindasan berlapis yang dialami perempuan pedesaan akibat degradasi ekosistem gambut. 

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: 
Indonesia tropical peatlands area is 47 percent of out of the total global peatlands. But unfortunately, sustainable peatland governance has not been widely applied in the management of peatlands, instead of being home to biodiversity, peatlands in Indonesia have ended up dry, burning and turned into monoculture plantations. The problem of peat ecosystem degradation is the result of unsustainable - historical environmental governance politics. This study shows the political complexity of peatland governance and its impact on women with a feminist political ecology lens. This research was conducted in several villages in Central and South Kalimantan, the largest tropical peat areas in Indonesia. This study found that 1) Rural women were realized that there are problems with peatland governance, both practically and politically; 2) women and girls have multiple impacts from peat ecosystem degradation ie, women are deprived of living space, women find it difficult to get water and food sources, women take over the role of the head of the family because men migrate but are not always recognized as the head of the family, and women are impoverished because they lose their independence and must work as oil palm workers. This study uses a feminist political ecology study as an analytical tool to see the multi-layered oppression experienced by rural women due to peat ecosystem degradation. 

Keywords: rural women, peatland village, peat ecosystem, feminist political ecology, resource governance, perempuan desa, desa gambut, ekosistem gambut, ekologi politik feminis, tata kelola sumber daya

Topics: Agriculture, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Governance, Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation, Livelihoods, Security, Food Security Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Indonesia

Year: 2019

Citation:

Gillespie, Josephine, and Nicola Perry. 2018. “Feminist Political Ecology and Legal Geography: A Case Study of the Tonle Sap Protected Wetlands of Cambodia.” Economy and Space 51 (5): 1089-105.

Authors: Josephine Gillespie, Nicola Perry

Abstract:

Legal geography (LG) unravels the co-constitutive relationship between law, space and society. Much LG scholarship has focused on urban issues situated in the Global North, but there is an emerging scholarship that explicitly extends this effort to the Global South and to rural locations. For example, Gillespie’s LG research in Southeast Asia exposes problems in governance institutions and decision-making processes that can unintentionally exacerbate existing socioeconomic disadvantage. The feminist political ecology (FPE) approach, as conceptualized by Rocheleau et al. and more recently expanded upon by Elmhirst provides a useful additional framework for considering the intersectionality of social and environmental factors which constitute identity, and the mutual dependency between identity and ecological processes. In this paper we argue that marrying an LG perspective with FPE results in a more nuanced understanding of complex legal– human–environment dynamics. Our focus on lore/law plus gendered identity as a lens for analysis blends an emergent LG literature with insights from FPE. This paper draws on research from a pilot project on the formal and informal regulatory mechanisms that enable and/or disable sustainable conservation in the protected wetlands of the Tonle Sap (lake) in central Cambodia.

Keywords: legal geography, feminist political ecology, intersectionality, wetlands, Cambodia

Topics: Environment, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Cambodia

Year: 2019

Citation:

Fehr, Rachel, and William G. Moseley. 2017. “Gardening Matters: a Political Ecology of Female Horticulturists, Commercialization, Water Access, and Food Security in Botswana.” African Geographical Review 38 (1): 67-80.

Authors: Rachel Fehr, William G. Moseley

Abstract:

The Government of Botswana and its partners have sought to address household food insecurity and poverty by experimenting with gardening initiatives of various sizes and commercial orientation. We use a multi-method approach, incorporating both econometric analysis and qualitative data, viewed through the theoretical lens of feminist political ecology, to determine how effective these women’s gardening initiatives are in addressing household food insecurity. We compare the relationship between commercial orientation and food security for women who rely on borehole water, tap water, and river water. We find that food security status improves with commercial orientation only when women are already experienced with the commercial market and/or when commercialization helps cover unavoidable water costs. When women have access to a reliable source of inexpensive water (as the river water users do), they can sustainably pursue subsistence-oriented horticulture and may in fact see greater food security benefits from consuming what they grow than from selling it. This study’s results call into question claims that commercialized horticulture will improve food security without first addressing the gendered dynamics of water access.

Keywords: commercial agriculture, feminist political ecology, food security, horticulture, water access, Botswana

Annotation:

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Women, Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation, Livelihoods, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Botswana

Year: 2017