Gender, Motherhood, and Feminism in Environmental Activism and Leadership

• In Event: 2149 - Taking Stock of Environmental Sociology: Trends, Strengths, Silences, and Innovative New Research Directions

Abstract

While the history of American environmentalism is often depicted as one led by and dominated by middle class white men, scholars have increasingly called attention to the ways that race, class, and gender relations have shaped environmental behavior and activism over time. Yet the way in which gender has informed environmental activism remains a relatively under-theorized area in environmental sociology, although women have been deeply involved particularly in grassroots environmental organizing ever since the early movement for environmental reform. While the nature of women’s environmental leadership and activism has changed over time in various ways, there have been some marked continuities, notably including the use of maternalist framing. Indeed, motherhood has historically been a highly productive mobilizing frame, and in many cases still is, yet the increasing individualization of the environmental movement under neoliberalism is intersecting with persistent, unequal gendered structures of labor in a way that places the burden of environmental risk management on women. That is, as environmental health literacy becomes more widespread and accessible, everyday efforts to minimize exposure to environmental chemicals through careful consumption of non-toxic or “green” products and food constitute a form of gendered labor that mothers increasingly feel responsible to take upon themselves in order to protect their children’s health. I argue that women’s engagement and leadership in environmental activism, as well as their disproportionate burden of care work and environmental risk mitigation within the household, can conceptualized as a component of the “third shift” that requires a significant amount of both physical and emotional labor. This paper contributes to an ongoing argument about the need for a more rigorous application of a gendered perspective, as well as an intersectional lens, in environmental sociology and in environmental justice analyses and discourse.

Author

• Elicia Cousins, Northeastern University