The beliefs that ecofeminist principles are based on are:
The building of Western industrial civilization in opposition to nature interacts dialectically with and reinforces the subjugation of women, because women are believed to be closer to nature, . . . life on earth is an interconnected web, not a hierarchy, . . . a healthy, balanced ecosystem, including human and nonhuman inhabitants, must maintain diversity, . . . [and] the survival of the species necessitates a renews understanding of our relationship to nature, of our own bodily nature and of nonhuman nature around us.
(“The Ecology of Feminism and the Feminism of Ecology” by Ynestra King)
Intersectionality is a way of considering how each aspect of our social identities intersect and relate to the privilege and oppression we experience. Aspects of social identities include, but not limited to, gender, sex, race, age, class, and education. There are three main considerations for the theory of intersectionality, “intersectionality theory viewed at the micro or individual level, . . . intersectionality [as] a framework for analysis, . . . [and] intersectionality as praxis.” The theory of intersectionality can be applied to the life and experiences of individuals, applied to social and political issues to identify groups of oppressed people, and it should be a praxis or customary focus of activism.
Use of the term “intersectionality” began in the late 1980s and early 1990s in feminism, however ecofeminists had been practicing it for many years prior (Kings 70). It is the main claim of ecofeminism that the domination of women and the domination and exploitation of nature are interconnected — ecofeminism specifically focuses on this interconnectedness, or intersectionality. All of humanity is linked to and inseparable from nature, so if nature is dominated, exploited, or damaged in any way, then the same follows for humans (Kings 71). However, ecofeminism suggests and proves that those most affected and earliest affected by a damaged environment are those who are marginalized — women, people of color, people with disabilities, the poor and working class, et cetera (Kings 71). Feminist and ecofeminist intersectionality looks deeper at the interconnected web of aspects of social identity to recognize how privilege and oppression are derived from a combination of these different aspects of social identity.
Feminism and ecofeminism have both been criticized for claiming to be intersectional theories, but having very white perspectives. Environmentalist movements have also been criticized for “a lack of recognition for black women’s work combatting environmental racism within the environmental justice movement” (Cain). Cacildia Cain calls for “an intersectional, black feminist, environmental movement that center black women’s standpoint to combat these [environmental and social] threats” (Cain).
Sources
Cain, Cacildia. “The Necessity of Black Women’s Standpoint and Intersectionality in Environmental Movements.” Medium, Black Feminist Thought 2016, 14 Apr. 2016, medium.com/black-feminist-thought-2016/the-necessity-of-black-women-s-standpoint-and-intersectionality-in-environmental-movements-fc52d4277616.
King, Ynestra. “The Ecology of Feminism and the Feminism of Ecology”
Kings, A.E. “Ethics & the Environment .” Intersectionality and the Changing Face of Ecofeminism , vol. 22, no. 1, 2017, muse-jhu-edu.libproxy.umassd.edu/article/660551.