Chapter 08 · Finance, data & evidenceSustainability Language
Ecofeminism
Definition
Ecofeminism is a body of environmental and feminist thought holding that the oppression of women and the exploitation of nature are interconnected products of patriarchal and hierarchical systems. The term was coined by French feminist Françoise d'Eaubonne in Le Féminisme ou la mort (1974). Its strands range from cultural ecofeminism, which revalues associations between women and nature, to social and materialist ecofeminism, which analyses both dominations through political economy.
References
Supports definition and framing.
Overview
What it means
A critical lens arguing that environmental and gender justice are inseparable — you cannot fix one domination system while leaving the other intact.
How it is used
Ecofeminism informs environmental humanities, climate-justice analysis and critiques of technocratic sustainability; it intersects with environmental justice and indigenous feminisms.
Why it matters
It is one of the foundational critical frameworks in environmental thought, shaping how gender is theorised in sustainability.