Why Women Will Save the Planet

by Friends Of The Earth

Women's empowerment is critical to environmental sustainability, isn't it? When Friends of the Earth asked this question on Facebook half of respondents said yes and half said no, with women as likely to say no as men. This collection of articles and interviews, from some of the leading lights of the environmental and feminist movements, demonstrates that achieving gender equality is vital if we are to protect the environment upon which we all depend. It is a rallying call to environmental campaigning groups and other environmentalists who have, on the whole, neglected women's empowerment in their work.

We hope that the book will encourage the environmental movement and women's movement to join in fighting the twin evils of women's oppression and environmental degradation, because social justice and environmental sustainability are two sides of the same coin.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Environment, Sustainability, Nature, Science

299 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2015

Reviews

[Kian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I initially picked up this book thinking it would be this amazing insight into the nuanced and complicated issues surrounding gender equality and climate change. In part it was, but there is a good chunk of this book that is pretty disappointing if you come into it expecting nuanced reflections and new and constructive information.

At best I found individual chapters insightful and interesting, especially those discussing very specific problems and suggesting creative and original solutions. There were a lot of interesting perspectives and voices, and a good amount of diversity in terms of both the persons and what they were representing. Many of the essays and interviews acknowledged and reflected on the complications that occur when discussing climate change and even gender equality when other forms of marginalisation aren't being considered, but plenty others seemed to have a distinct white westerner's point of view and didn't really add anything new.
To add to this a large percentage of the essays seemed to focus on conveying the story of a single organisation or such, and often ended on some reflection along the likes of "women in government! Female business owners! Women are imperative in discussions on climate change!" First off, yes, of course we need more women in positions of power, and obviously everyone reading this book hopefully understands the importance of including women when saving the earth. But simply giving a woman a position of power means nothing if she will continue to uphold patriarchal capitalist structures, it is such a dry blanket statement that seems far more radical than it really is. Then there is the female business owner, which is ignoring the root of the problem entirely.

I liked it overall. Like I said, there are some genuinely good essays in there. But there is also an overwhelming amount of this capitalistic "Give women power! Make them bosses!" Without addressing race, ethnicity or class, or really going into the specifics of things beyond a very general idea I feel most of us would already be familiar with. It's also worth noting that some of the essays had a very poor understanding of gender as well, and was both cisnormative and at times ironically enough even played into gender roles as well.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how many times I learned that women are most affected by climate change because they have to provide water and fuel for cooking in most regions of the world. But aside from this oft-repeated fact, many of the essays harped on the same concepts with just slightly different nuance. That being said there will still a couple original essays that really stood out and the overall message of this collection still resonated. The same society that treats women as invisible and their labor as unimportant will fail to find value in the preservation of Mother Earth as well. Until there's a fundamental shift in both of these issues we'll never see lasting, sustainable change.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a feminist and an environmentalist, so you would think that I would devour this book. Unfortunately, it was painful to get through. First, there are multiple typos which made for a distracting read. Secondly, very few of the essays actually conveyed helpful, insightful, novel information. Most of the essays repeated the same things or I felt were simply cheerleading. For example:

9 "We cannot separate out the need for gender equality from other struggles for fair, equal, and environmentally sustainable society."
26 "We must ensure that legislators and media are well informed (sic)..."
49 "...representative decision-making needs to include women... with different background and life experiences."
103 "We need new economics informed by the larger picture, an economy that puts women and the Earth at the centre."
145 "If we do not act against environmental degradation, women will be the first casualties..."

Ok... so now what? Is this new information for the reader? Very few of these essays explain what should be done. Okay... legislators and media need to be well-informed, okay... what do you propose we do?

I felt like I read this book constantly asking, "so what do you want us to do? What do you suggest? What do you propose? What are you, essayist, doing about it?" And then, unfortunately, the questions aren't answered.

180 "The only way to save life on Earth is to stop the war against nature and create a totally new civilization, based on love and respect for Mother Earth."

Okay... so aside from CREATING A TOTALLY NEW CIVILIZATION... what else might you suggest? Maybe something a little more... tangible... a tad more realistic. Unless you're just saying that we're fucked so why bother trying?

I felt like I wasted a lot of time getting through the book hoping for more.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great compilation of essays and interviews by women leaders and their take on women and the environment. I really enjoyed reading the majority of chapters in this book, learning about projects taking place across the globe to empower women as well as what's being done in my own country.

It's a brilliant book to discover and reaffirm why it is so important to improve equality between genders and different peoples, and how this impacts the environment.

[Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist and 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate, was fond of recounting a children's story she'd been told on a visit to Japan. A huge fire breaks out in the forest, runs the tale. All the animals are transfixed and overwhelmed by the conflagration. All but a hummingbird, that is, who resolves to do something about it. She flies to the nearest stream, dips her beak into it, and drops a bead of water onto the flames. The elephant, the lion, the giraffe and the other animals laugh at her, as she flies back and forth over and over again. 'You're just a tiny hummingbird,' they jeer. 'What difference do you think you can make?' And the hummingbird replies: 'I'm doing the best I can.'

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is not that this book is bad by any means- it just falls flat. It is definitely written for those just being introduced to the idea of feminism and the environmental movement working more efficiently when hand-in-hand.

With such an amazing selection of women in this book, I was hoping for something that sparked my curiosity or lead me to think about the topic in a new way. That was not the case. I felt that the interviews were flat, the essays a bit long or somehow missing the mark, and the progression and order of the selections to be arbitrary/lacking purpose.

I'm really glad this book exists, as it will be a great addition on my classroom bookshelf (this book is perfect for high school or introduction-level college), but I found it redundant.

[Frances Haynes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some bits of this were very interesting, particularly the bits related to food and land. However, many of the entries assumed capitalism as a given (the last entry is literally about women in boardrooms) which...is just so off the mark, and many had an unhelpfully blunt understanding of gender. I think most people would find something useful in this so it might be worth picking up at a charity shop or the library and flipping through. IMO the most interesting chapters were the ones by Gotelind Alber, Lyla Mehta and Melissa Leach, and Celia Alldridge.

[Briar Wyatt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, my eyes glazed over quite a few of the chapters of this book for which I am simply not the target audience (miss me with women-on-boards type feminism pls). There were a few chapters I would recommend to my friends with similar ideologies though:

Diane Elson: women’s empowerment and environmental sustainability in the context of international UN agreements

Karin Nansen: the close ties between social and environmental justice

Gotelind Alber: engendering urban climate policy

Caroline Lucas: is there a specific role for women in helping to achieve environmental sustainability through politics?

Celia Alldridge: How the defence of the commons and territories has become a core part of feminist, anti-capitalist struggles

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

some of the essays were really interesting and some were so boring i skipped them entirely, i love the subject but didnt find it particularly gave me much? also theres a LOT of abbreviations and in some cases more ‘jargon’ style language which makes some parts feel less accessible

[Bridget M · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book for class. I struggled to connect with the writing and content. I thought this book's international approach limited its content. I felt like the book's essays and sections were not as engaging as other ecofeminist books I have read.

[Noushin · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some standout chapters and the overall message of the book is interesting. But the majority is filled with buzzwords that make it tedious to read and hard to discover the actual point.

[Elsa Kivinen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the clickbait-y title, this books offers a lot of in-depth content, substance and diverse view points of view to discussions on gender and sustainability nexus, which is something I think is probably the book's biggest asset.

I especially enjoyed chapter 3 on the role of women in urban planning and how women are influenced by different urban infrastructures and designs. That chapter really inspired me to rediscover my interests in Urban Studies, since it reminded me that I actually find urban planning interesting, and that it's a shame that I stopped reading extensively about it when I realised I would not want to do it as a job... My other favourite chapters were 8 (very academic, policy-oriented and pragmatic), 10 (a very inspiring and empowering text on the progress two individuals have been part of) and chapter 16 by Julie Nelson.

This was a very refreshing and captivating non-fiction read, with potential to make almost anyone excited about new frontiers in the environment and development nexus! Since each chapter was written by someone new, the sheer number of perspectives you get exposed to from economists to community activists and private sector workers and politicians is guaranteed to make you reflect your own stance of feminism and sustainability.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a book club. It's quite an academic collection of essays, and can be a little repetitive. Some of the authors only touch on women's involvement in the environmental movement. But there are some some very good chapters - Caroline Lucas's stands out - as well as some nuanced analysis of the reality of how women's lives and activism interact with issues of sustainability and preservation of the environment.

[Maisie · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was very informative and insightful, providing multiple case studies and interesting perspectives for experts in the fields of climate change, the environment and women's empowerment. however, i would not recommend reading this chronologically, if there is a particular piece you are interested in reading then read that but i found myself not really looking forward to reading some of the very statistic heavy or less engaging chapters.

[Mills College Library]

333.72082 W6294 2015