Tracking the Elusive Green Women: Sex, Environmentalism, and Feminism in the United States and Europe

• DOI: 10.1177/106591299705000108
• Published date: 01 March 1997
• Author: Sue Tolleson-Rinehart,Mark Somma
• Date: 01 March 1997
• Subject Matter: Articles

Tracking the Elusive Green
Women: Sex, Environmentalism,
and Feminism in the United
States and Europe
MARK
SOMMA
AND SUE TOLLESON-RINEHART, TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
Ecofeminism is a set of theories variously claiming that, because of bio-
logical determinism, reproductive and maternal roles, the oppression of
patriarchy and women’s more holistic spiritual connection to nature, or
the alternative perspective that feminism can provide, women are more
concerned about the environment than are men. Apart from ecofeminist
theory, "green" and liberal political parties and candidates in Western na-
tions appear also to assume that women view pro-environmentalist poli-
cies more favorably But can "ecofeminism" be identified in Western mass
publics? Analyses of EuroBarometer 37, the 1992 American National Elec-
tion Study, and the 1990-1993 World Values Study all reject biological
contentions in ecofeminism, but do generate evidence for a connection
between feminist orientations and support for pro-environmentalist posi-
tions on the part of both women and men.
The term &dquo;ecofeminism&dquo; originated with Francoise D’Eaubonne in her 1974
book, Feminism or Death (Merchant 1992). D’Eaubonne believed that feminism
holds the key to confronting the environmental and inequality problems that be-
set contemporary societies. The term became the rallying point for a subculture
within feminism which holds that women
are especially attracted to environmen-
talism because of their reproductive biology and culturally defined role as nurturer.
Three distinct but interrelated perspectives converge in creating the dimen-
sions of ecofeminism as a feminist subculture (Merchant’s 1992 exposition help-
fully organizes these perspectives). The first, derived from cultural feminism, argues
that women and nature are both dominated by an exploitative patriarchal culture.
Hence women are more sensitive to the assault against nature than the men who
exploit it (Merchant 1990; Griffin 1978; Caldecott and Leland 1983). Beyond
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culturally oppressive and culturally constructed gender role, some ecofeminists
also argue for a biological basis in explaining women§ propensity toward consen-
sus and nurturing. The confluence of biological determinism, gendered social
role, and a shared sense of exploitation by the patriarchy constitute the basic
construct of ecofeminism in these arguments (Henderson 1983; Griffin 1978).
Another ecofeminist perspective emerges from nature-based religious be-
liefs centered around a female deity and tied to elements of New Age spiritu-
ality Riane Eisler’s book, The Chalice and The Blade (1987), is a critical argument
within the goddess-based religion path to ecofeminism. Eisler writes that the
most profound cultural transformation in the human experience came about
when an early Mediterranean culture based on feminine qualities of consen-
sus and nurturing-The Chalice-was overcome by waves of patriarchal war-
rior societies from western Asia-The Blade. She ties the domination model of
patriarchy to the exploitation of women and nature and identifies the partner-
ship model of The Chalice with contemporary ecofeminism.
A third path to ecofeminism was presented by Charlene Spretnak in a
keynote address to a 1987 ecofeminist conference in Los Angeles (Spretnak
1987). Spretnak argued that women with liberal feminist orientations and
environmental policy or science careers are exposed subtextually to ecofeminist
analysis. They recognize a depth of understanding in ecofeminism that is not
present in more conventional environmental policy approaches, she argues,
and, as a consequence of the commingling of liberal feminism and environ-
mental studies, adopt ecofeminist ideals. This approach is also linked to an
ecofeminist argument that women tend to be nonlinear and more holistic in
their reasoning and hence better appreciate contemporary research in ecol-
ogy, chaos theory, and nonlinear analysis (Spretnak and Capra 1986; Leland
1983: chap. 7; Henderson 1983: chap. 24). Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is
often pointed to as an early illustration of this kind of ecofeminism.
As virtually all feminist theories have also concerned themselves with prac-
tical political action, ecofeminism has moved beyond the realm of feminist
theory and is now expressed in political action and interest group formation
according to some theorists (Merchant 1992; Spretnak and Capra 1986). The
chipko or tree hugging movement in India, reforestation and population con-
trol in Kenya, and the toxic waste campaigns of Love Canal led by Lois Gibbs
are potential representations of ecofeminism in political action. Certainly they
have been initiated by women who have also expressed what we might call a
strong gender consciousness. Within feminism, a vocal subculture has arisen
providing both the theoretical statement of ecofeminism and attempts at po-
litical organizing with conferences on ecofeminism held at Berkeley in 1974,
Amherst in 1980, and Los Angeles in 1987. At least one journal, Woman of
Power, has devoted space regularly to ecofeminism.
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If the argument as made by its theorists that ecofeminism emerges from biol-
ogy, gender role, and shared exploitation is accurate, traces of ecofeminism ought
to exist within mass publics in post-materialist societies. Literature is available to
suggest that gender differences in political attitudes exist among individuals who
do not identify themselves with the Women’s Movement (Tolleson-Rinehart 1992).
That is, elements of feminism and gender consciousness exert influence at the
individual level of analysis even among women not identifying themselves as femi-
nists. Similarly, ecofeminist traits may appear among individuals unfamiliar with
ecofeminism as an ideology The construction of the ecofeminist argument does
not depend on individual-level feminist consciousness. The qualities of nurtur-
ing or holistic reasoning, at least as they are posited by ecofeminist authors, are
not tied to a politicized consciousness regardless of whether these qualities arise
from biology or gender roles.
Quite independent of ecofeminist arguments (and often, apparently, in
ignorance of them), feminism and environmentalism have separately been
seen as powerfully mobilizing political movements in Western democracies
by scholars, commentators, and attentive publics alike. Feminism, even when
few women will self-consciously adopt the label, is convincingly shown to
have spurred women’s vigorous entry into the political arena in the last two
decades, particularly in the United States but also in Western Europe (as a
mere sample of a vast literature, see Banaszak and Plutzer 1993; Baxter and
Lansing 1983; Tolleson-Rinehart 1992; Costain 1992; Dahlerup 1986; Randall
1987; Gelb 1989; and Lovenduski and Randall 1993). And environmentalist
movements and &dquo;green&dquo; parties have been presented as a sine qua non of
postmaterialist or &dquo;new&dquo; politics, especially in Western Europe (see, for ex-
ample, Dalton, Flanagan, and Beck 1984; Inglehart 1988; Flanagan 1987;
Rohrschneider 1988; 1990; 1993; Norris 1993).
Surprisingly, these literatures have not addressed each other, much less
ecofeminism. Students of gender politics rarely mention environmentalism,
with the exception of some feminist political theorists who criticize ecofeminist
assumptions about women’s &dquo;inherently nurturing natures&dquo; as essentialist and
problematic to women’s full inclusion in political life (for trenchant but gentle
critiques, see Hawkesworth 1990; Phillips 1991; and Tronto 1993). On the
other hand, students of &dquo;new politics&dquo; have been curiously resistant to explo-
rations of gender differences in support for environmentalism, or in gender
differences in the cognitive organization of such orientations (this is true of
most of the authors noted above; for very qualified exceptions, see Dalton,
Flanagan, and Beck 1984 passim; and Norris 1993).
Nor have ecofeminist authors paid much attention to either political theory
or studies of political behavior. Most ecofeminist authors are advocates, per-
haps analyzing policy but rarely if ever analyzing mass political behavior. Yet,
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as Merchant (1992) has noted, ecofeminists have in recent years engaged in
serious grass-roots political efforts (as with the Indian chipko movement, as
...