Understanding the nexus of the environmental harm and victimization of women and girls.

• In Event: Environmental Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 8: Inequality, Gender, and Intersectionality

Abstract

This review develops a green victimization framework to explain how environmental harm and gender-based violence intersect in Colombia’s artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) industry. Drawing on green criminology, human security, and feminist political ecology theory, the paper argues that mercury contamination, deforestation, and militarized extractive economies generate criminogenic conditions that disproportionately harm women, particularly Afro-Colombian and Indigenous women in rural communities. By synthesizing empirical research on toxic exposure, informal labor, and coercive sexual economies, the analysis shows that ecological degradation functions as a form of gendered violence by undermining bodily integrity, livelihoods, and community stability. The paper contributes to the existing scholarship on environmental crime by highlighting the importance of gender-responsive approaches to environmental crime policy and victim protection.

Author

• Kashmaya Andreas Andreas Rincon, University of Florida