Dr. Sara DiazWGST 202: Gender, Difference, and PowerGonzaga University

Women and Environment

Discussion

•Why is the environment a part of the feminist project?

•Maquilapolis: How do environmental problems affect women’s bodies and women’s lives?

Environment & Women’s Health

• Breast cancer• 1 in 8 women will be

diagnosed with breast cancer

• Early menarche increases risk

• Average age of Menarche (onset of first menstrual period)• Rates of early onset (7-

8 yr/old) higher in communities of color 1830 1920 1980 2006

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

17

14

12.5

10.5

Average age of Menarche US

Gendered & Environment• Gendered Division of

Labor:• Collecting wood to burn

for cooking• Finding clean water

sources• Nurse ill children/elders• Deal w/ effects on

reproduction• Work in off-shore

production zones with few environmental/work-place regulations

Lots of Women Activists• Rachel Carson• Wangari Maathai• Erin Brokovich• Vandana Shiva• Lady Bird Johnson• Sandra Steingraber• Majora Carter

• Many local activists

Rachel Carson - Silent Spring

• Drew attention to the dangers of pesticides (DDT)• Human and non-human animals as part of a

single living system (Ecosystem)• Documented the “silencing” effect of killing

insects on food chain• Bio-accumulation

• Paved the way for the contemporary environmental movement• Died of breast cancer in 1964

Rose Moon

•What are some of the effects of environmental toxins on fetal development?

•What are Steingraber’s main arguments?

Precautionary Principle

“When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof.”

FRAMING THE MOVEMENTS

Public Trust Doctrine

• The basis of much resource-based environmental organizing• “… certain resources like air, sea waters and the

forests have such a great importance to the people as a whole that it would be wholly unjustified to make them a subject of private ownership. The said resources being a gift of nature, they should be made freely available to everyone irrespective of status in life.” –Shiva

Risk-based Approach

• Direct conflict with Precautionary Principle• Take action only if the risk of harm is

KNOWN• Cost/Benefit Analysis• Example:• GMO and cloned foods• Formalized as the FDA’s approach in 1998

by President Bill Clinton

Environmentalism

• Change through education and legislation• PSA campaigns for recycling• Environmental laws for clean air & clean

water.• Informed by liberalism (rights-based)• Resource Oriented• Limitations: Human-centered, slow,

compromised by corporate interests which also use the “system” as it stands.

Ecofeminism

• Grew out of 2nd Wave Feminist movement• Emphasized women's connection to nature • Exploitation of women and nature part of

the same problem• Limitations:• Not typically intersectional (neglected

race/class)• Assumption that women are closer to

nature

Environmental Justice

• In response to “Environmental Racism”: • Correlation between distribution of

environmental pollution and race

• Focused on race more so than ecofeminism, environmental justice movement is led by many women.• Gendered Division of Labor

Racialized Effects

• Three of the five largest waste facilities dealing with hazardous materials in the United States are located in poor black communities.• 96 percent of African American children who live in

inner cities have unsafe amounts of lead in their blood.• Pesticide exposure among predominantly Latino farm

workers causes more than 300k illnesses each year.• High lung and thyroid cancer mortality in native

communities – uranium mining and nuclear testing.• Recent NTD cluster in Yakima Valley among

farmworkers.

Environmental Justice

• Focus on the 'social' - race, gender, class matter!• Fights against NIMBYism• Draws on concepts of Civil Rights, Public

Trust Doctrine, and Precautionary Principle• Intersections between racial justice,

economic justice, reproductive justice• Justice: All citizens have access to healthy

living and working conditions.

Environmental Imperialism• Resource (Raw Material) extraction was a primary colonial

project• Crops• Timber• Minerals

• Continues today for “independent” former colonies and for internally colonized groups such as Native American, Hawaiians and Alaskans. • Timber• Minerals• Metals (silver & gold)• Tourism• Oil

Thinking Globally

•Majora Carter – EJ in South Bronx• How do women respond to environmental

degradation elsewhere in the world?• Read for Friday and answer Daily

Response question as usual.• Class cancelled for Friday.