Women are the producers of life as life is also produced through nature. We personify the conditions and the processes of nature as “Mother Nature”. We see the connection of woman and nature through an array of movements posed by women. For example, in India, The Chipko movement, an organized resistance against the destruction of forests. The movement got its name from the word ‘embrace’, as the villagers would hug the tree in prevention of the contractors from cutting them. In the Chipko movement reading it mentions, “In the 20th century, it began in the hills where the forests are the main source of livelihood since agricultural activities cannot be carried out easily”. In this movement we see these women protecting LIFE which is not in the form of a child but the nature of woman is to care, to nurture, to protect. It is inevitable that women take the control of the land due to the connection that almost reciprocates as nature produces the necessities for living things to maintain life, where women bring forth the life that inhabits the earth.
Now we’ll visit the motherland where concrete and highrises have not taken over. In an article, “Speak Truth to Power” by Wangari Maathai, we find out that “women hold primary responsibility for tiling the fields, decoding what to plant, nurturing the crops, and harvesting the food. They are the first to become aware of the environmental damage that harms agricultural production:…” We see that in African, women are the caregivers of the land as they have the knowledge of what the land needs. In return for the land being taken care of, the land produces the crops that supply the food for their family.
After reading these texts, it is really sad what women went through all in the name of protecting the land. It’s like we are “biting the hand that feeds us”. Along with the knowledge of the role women posed in Africa, Maathai shares her experience as a fighter. “Maathai was hospitalised after pro-government thugs beat her and other women protesters. Following the incident, Moi’s ruling party parliamentarians threatened to mutilate her genitals in order to force Maathai to behave ‘like women should’.” I think about the people that do not carry out peaceful protests, those who protest through causing harm to others and those who protest through disrupting the peace. I don’t ever remember where hugging a tree to stop man from cutting it down deserves threats and being beaten. The math just doesn’t add up. A civil protest breeding uncivil consequences? I think not.
There are too many instances where women are being abused for land, especially the women whose ancestors the land belongs to. An article in The Guardian, “ Dakota Access pipeline: At Standing Rock, women lead fight in face of Mace, arrests and strip searches. Prairie McLaighlin, a Native American woman, describes her journey as she protests against the Dakota Access pipeline. She says, “ a group of male and female guards forcibly removed her clothes where she refuses to strip in front of them.” Her daughter, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a continuer of the movements’ legacy, led the growing movement to stop the multibillion dollar project threatening their land and culture. “ Her friends have been arrested and subjected to what they describe as cruel and inhuman treatment”.
In my “Im Pro-whatever you wanna do” blog I talked about abrotion should be considered for the sake of saving mankind. I connect these two ideas to show that as we continue to overpopulate the earth we also continue to run through natures’ gifts (resources) to survive, and at the same time we destroy the land to inhabit it. The exponential destruction of nature and overpopulation has made humans like a parasite killing its host(earth) from within. And we wonder why there are so many hungry children in Brazil, says an article, “The Brazilian Slum Children Who Are Literally Swimming in Garbage”. Like i previously stated before, women are the producers of life, why in the world wouldn’t they defend something(nature), they produce the same quality of life.
thanks for coming.. hope you’re staying safe, I can’t wait for this to be over. I’m so tired and bored of this life. stay safe and stay home xoxo a very bored senioritis senior.
Hey Melany, I want to start off by saying I hope you’re doing well and that I really enjoyed your blog post. You brought up a lot of important points and examples from multiple readings. One section of your post that really stood out to me was when you addressed the violence most women face when protecting nature using peaceful forms of protest like Maathai. While researching the history of indigenous women throughout the world working to protect nature, as well as their culture I came across Guatemalan activist Juana Ramirez Santiago. Santiago was a repeated midwife, community leader, human rights activist, and a “founding member of the Network of Ixil Women, ‘an organization which provides psychological counseling, social help and birthing assistance to women in rural areas of Guatemala’” (Al-Sulaiman). While Santiago may have not been directly connected with environmental issues within Guatemala, she did fight for women’s rights which as you stated “Women are the producers of life as life is also produced through nature.” Unfortunately, Santiago was murdered on September 21, 2018, becoming the twenty-first human rights activist killed within that same year. I bring this up, because I agree with you I do not think peaceful protest or people just speaking against an unjust system merit such a violent reaction. I applaud those who are able to keep calm when they are in such situations, personally I believe I’d lose it if I’m honest. I’m wondering if you researched any other female activist and if so which one’s stood out to you the most? Would you find it easy to keep calm during such stressful encounters?
Also I’m sorry I forgot to include my source
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/juana-ramirez-santiago-becomes-21st-human-rights-activist-killed-guatemala
This is a lovely recap of the readings as well as your interpretation of the fight. I do feel it makes the most sense for women to care more deeply for nature and protecting it, because women carry life as nature is made from and for life. These readings and fights for activism make me think how much are men evolved through historical fights. Such as in america the fight to end slavery, an amount of men involved wanted to end slavery but also believed in the back to africa movement. I am just thinking now, even when women had less rights, the ones in at least good relationships could argue with their husband to fight for rights of slaves, women, and others. I imagine at least some of the men in the fight for equality were doing so at the demand of their wife. Back to the subject more on hand though, I hope that this fight continues to spread far and wide and that more women and even more men to start to stand up and fight for the rights and equality of just not all people, but all things vital in our system. I think it starts at home, and in places like america, we have rights to fight our government and demand better conditions. Not only that, but we have the ability to vote more women into congress and government, that we can demand from our representatives better conditions and expectations. Unlike Wangari Maathai who is fighting an oppressive regime that has threatened to mutilate her, in america we can make those demands and the government does not have the right (though they may have the power) to prosecute. Though it is scary to think what makes a peaceful protest and how much the government is willing to stand before they stop calling it a peaceful protest. I do think the bigger issue is our population size and that allowing our population to grow only weakens the peoples voices. Anyway, keep speaking your voice and until next time.
Melany,
thank you for your post! I love how the tone of your blog screams “women and nature are interconnected, its a no-brainer!” Like, of course the oppression of nature coincides with the oppression of women! It is like a beautifully crafted cycle, where we give and nurture to nature and in return, they give and nurture to us. A full circle. As natural caregivers, fighting for nature has- has history has shown- not been easy. And one of the reasons for that is because those who seek to destroy or expand the Western industrialization brand, they lack the adequate knowledge to fuel good thinking! Yes, I am bashing men who think it’s okay to take land away from tribes, from communities, from families, from women! They know not what they do. And if they do know, they don’t care. It pains me greatly to read the story of Standing Rock, where women had to fight and protest for a land that already belonged to them. They took care of the land, and the land took care of them. Then here comes along this multimillion dollar project to disrupt the harmonic bond. How can we prevent this from happening again?