Extending the reach of ecofeminism: a framework of social science and natural science careers

Abstract

This chapter examines relationships between gender equity and environmental concerns as expressed through two different views of ecofeminism, those of a natural scientist and a social scientist. Personal experiences are recorded and analyzed to show similarities and differences in life and career trajectories, in part influenced by ecofeminist thought. In tracing this impact, we observed that much of the current philosophical and social science framework is less applicable to a natural science perspective. Natural systems repeat and nest at varieties of scales; thus the connectivity within any system parallels, reflects, mirrors the connectivity of other systems. These parallel systems can be nested in fractal-like natural worlds, where connections within are reflected between, and the patterns of the system are replicated in each. Thus, when we look across the range of interconnected systems, the axes are not intersecting at all, but simply reflective parallels. Such may be the case with the axes of oppression emphasized by many ecofeminists. We thus propose an extension to ecofeminist thinking – the notion of system reflectivity that encompasses, but is broader than, the idea of simultaneously operating axes of oppression.

Citation

Statham, A. and Evans, C. (2007), "Extending the reach of ecofeminism: a framework of social science and natural science careers", Wilkinson, R.C. and Freudenburg, W.R. (Ed.) Equity and the Environment (Research in Social Problems and Public Policy, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 149-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0196-1152(07)15004-3