Women Status

Women’s essential contributions to over all

environmental health, development and economy

are negatively influenced by domestic tasks such

as gathering of fuel wood, biomass for cooking. In

reality, wood burning, kerosene stove and open

fireplaces emit significant quantities of known

health damaging pollutants.

Women Role

Women bear almost all responsibility for meeting basic needs of the

family, yet are systematically denied the resources, information and

freedom of action they need to fulfill this responsibility

• The vast majority of the world poor are women. Two third of the world’s illiterates are female. Of the million of school age children not in school, the majority are girls.

• And today, AIDS/ HIV is rapidly becoming a women’s disease.

• The current world food price crisis is having a severe impact on women.

Women Empowerment

Effective bottom- up strategies for ending hunger and poverty combine three factors mobiliging people at the grass root level to built self reliance, empowering women as key change agents and forging effective partnerships with local government in India.

Eco-Feminism

Ecofeminism can be defined as a 'value system, a social

movement and practice...(which) also offers a political

analysis that explores the links between androcentrism

and environmental destruction.

• A branch of feminism that unites ecological and feminine

themes.

• It represents an important branch of environmental ethics-

a normal philosophy which evaluates right or wrong action

of human being toward environment.

• The advocates of this approach state that women, because

of their biological and their social roles, have an innate

concern for nature.

• Through their roles as life-givers (child- bearing ) and nurtures, women

are closer to nature than man.

• It is emphasized in their approach, that current environmental

problems will remain unsolved unless related feminine qualities (such

as caring etc) are allowed to mold social life and policies.

• The eco-feminists want to make free the entire nature from the

oppression especially from male dominated policy making society and

state.

• Their deep concern centres on the problems& position of poor women

especially of there world cocentres.

According to the ecofeminists, one also needs to realize the inter-

connectedness of all life-processes and hence revere nature and all

life-forms. Humans should not try to control nature, but work along

with it and must try to move beyond power based relationships. This

would mean integrating the dualisms based on the polarization of the

male and female in one's conception of reality.

Women Possess Power for Change

• In India, the most visible advocate of ecofeminism is Vandana Shiva.

One would tend to categorize her work with the ecofeminists of the

radical mode, but her critique of the entire development model and its

effects on the environment, places her more among the ecofeminists

of the socialist framework.

• Vandana Shiva (1988) critiques modern science and technology as a

western, patriarchal and colonial project, which is inherently violent

and perpetuates this violence against women and nature. Pursuing

this model of development has meant a shift away from traditional

Indian philosophy, which sees prakriti as a living and creative process,

the 'feminine principle', from which all life arises.

• Under the garb of development, nature has been exploited mercilessly

and the feminine principle was 'no longer associated with activity,

creativity and sanctity of life but was considered passive and as a

"resource".' This has meant the beginning of the marginalization,

devaluation, displacement and ultimately the dispensability of women.

• Women's special knowledge of nature and their dependence on it for

'staying alive', were systematically marginalized under the onslaught of

modern science. Shiva, however, notes that Third World women are not

simply 'victims' of the development process, but also possess the power

for change. She points to the experiences of women in the Chipko

movement of the 1970s in the Garhwal Himalayas-where women

struggled for the protection and regeneration of the forests.

Women-Environment Relations Historically Variable

• Women, particularly in poor rural households, are both victims of environmental degradation as well as active agents in movements for the protection and regeneration of the environment. They act in both positive and negative ways with the environment.

• The unquestioning acceptance of the woman nature link and the idea that since women are most severely affected by environmental degradation, they have 'naturally' positive attitudes towards environmental conservation, is, therefore, unacceptable.

• The forest and village commons provide a wide range of essential items such as food, fuel, fodder, manure, building material, medicianal herbs, resin, gum, honey and so on, for rural households in India as well as in much of Asia and Africa. For the poor, village commons (VC) are a vital source for fuel and fodder. Ninety-one per cent of their firewood needs and more than 69 per cent of their fodder needs are met by the VCs (Agarwal 92). Access to VCs reduces inequalities in income among poor and non-poor households.

•The forest are an important source of livelihood, particularly for

tribal populations. Studies have shown that nearly 30 million

people in India depend on forests and forest produce to a large

extent (Kulkarni 1983). The dependence on forests is much more

during lean agricultural seasons and famines or droughts.

•Class differences are once again highlighted in the dependency

on and accessibility to water resources for irrigation and drinking.

While, for a large percentage of poorer households, water is used

directly from rivers and streams, richer households sink deep

wells and tubewells and tap groundwater for drinking and

irrigation

•The growing degradation of natural resources, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the increasing appropriation by the state and by private individuals, as well as the decline in communally-owned property, have been primarily responsible for the increased class-gender effects of environmental degradation. Besides, the decline in 'community resource management systems, the increase in population arid the mechanization of agriculture, resulting in the erosion of local knowledge systems have aggravated the class-gender implications of environmental degradation' (Agarwal 1992).

•With the disappearance of forests, VCs, shortage of drinking water and so on, women have to spend more time and walk longer distances to get fuel, fodder, food and water. Drying up or pollution of wells accessible to lower-caste women has meant an increase dependence on upper-caste women to dole out water to them. This has increased the burden on women and young girls and has even led to increasing cases of suicide among them (Bagaguna 84; Shiva 88).

• The degradation of forests and the historical and ongoing malpractices and state policies and increasing privatization have restricted the access of villagers to forests and VCs which has directly resulted in reduced incomes. The extra time spent in gathering has reduced the time available to women for crop production, where they are the main cultivators, as in the hill regions due to high male outmigration (Agarwal 92).

•The little that women earned through selling firewood is also reduced due to deforestation. This has a direct impact on the diets of poor households. The decline in the availability of fruits, berries and so on, as well as firewood, has forced people of poor households to shift to less nutritious food or eat half-cooked meals or even reduce the number of meals eaten per day. •The existing gender biases within the family lead to women and female children getting secondary treatment with regard to food and health care. Given the kind of tasks poor rural women do, such as working in the rice fields, fetching water, washing clothes, etc., they are more exposed to water-borne diseases and to polluted water bodies (Mencher and Sardamoni 1982). It is also women who are mainly responsible for the care of the sick within the family.

Material Base of Women's Knowledge Declining• The displacement of people due to large dams, or large-scale deforestation,

etc., has led to the disruption of social support networks within and between villages. Women, particularly of poor, rural households, who depend to a large extent on such networks for economic and social support, are adversely affected (Sharma 1980). It has also eroded a whole way of life and resulted in alienation and helplessness (Fernandes and Menon 1987).

• Old people and widows or deserted women are most neglected. The dominant forms of development have led to a devaluation and marginalization of women's indigenous knowledge and skills which they have acquired through their everyday interaction with nature. Simultaneously, they are not trained to use the new technologies and are excluded from the planning process. With degradation and privatization of natural resources, the material base of women's knowledge is declining.

• The Ecological Marxists, influenced by Marxist philosophy see the unequal access to resources as the basic problem in society. They are most closely identified with People's Science Movements and are now advocating environmental protection. They are against tradition and emphasize confrontational movements. For them modern science is indispensable for building a new society. Falling between these two streams are the Appropriate Technologists. With regard to modern science, they are pragmatic, arguing for a synthesis of traditional and modern technological knowledge systems. Though they recognize the existence of socio-economic hierarchies, they do not clearly tackle them.

Active involvement of Women in Chipko Movement

• The emergence of the Indian environmental movement can perhaps be dated to 1973, when the famous Chipko movement began in the central Himalayas.

• The Chipko movement emerged as a protest against the granting of permission for access to the forests to commercial timber operators, while the local people were refused access to the forests for making agricultural implements.

• The movement, which spread rapidly to other villages, saw the active involvement of women. They worked jointly with the men of their community and in some cases even against them, when they differed with them over the use of forest resources.

• Women were more concerned with the long term gain of saving the forests and environment and hence, subsistence and survival issues, rather than the short-term gain through commercial projects like monoculture forests, potato-seed farms, etc.

• The scope of the movement broadened and involved issues of male alcoholism, domestic violence, women's representation in village councils, as well as against mining in the hills.

• It helped women recognize the inter-connections between nature and human sustenance. The movement was carried forward largely by women using Gandhian techniques of protest.

Women's Participation in Movements of Sixties and Seventies

• In the first phase of their movement in the pre-Independence era, women were

mainly involved with the national liberation struggle.

• Women's organization essentially focused on constitutional equality and

amendments to Hindu laws.

• With the achievement of independence, a period of lull ensured.

• The mid-sixties witnessed general discontent and displeasure in society,

especially among the youth jand the working class.

• All over India, in the mid-sixties and early seventies, there were student

protests, anti-price rise morchas, tribal revolts, the Naxalbari movement and so

on.

• Women participated in large numbers in these movements. As a result of the

mid-sixties' crisis, the 1970s witnessed a resurgence of the women's

movement.

• A number of autonomous women's groups emerged that questioned the

development plans and policies and put forward gender equality as an

operative principle.

• Some of the major debates that engaged the women's movement were issues

of women's oppression, violence against women, the campaign for women's

rights that challenged the dichotomy between public and private sphere and the

social, cultural, economic and political manifestations of 'gender'.

• The debate over growth, development and equity isues from a woman's

perspective have thrown new light on the dimensions and causes of gender

inequality.

• The women-and-development innovations on women's work and income,

effects of migration, increase in female headed households, exploitative

conditions in the unorganized sector and in the free trade zone industries

(Banerjee 1991; Kalpagam 1994), impact of environmental degradation, and so

on. Issues of peripheral groups of tribals, poor, landless, rural and urban women

also gained recognition.

• This led to an extended debate over what constituted 'work' and 'non-work'.

Whether housework was to be considered 'productive' and whether women were

exploited and oppressed within the household. Discussions have also begun

over the origins and development of women's oppression.

Women In The Field Of Environmental Sciences• Women's participation in the formulation, planning and execution of

environmental policy continues to be low. At the same time, the international community has recognized that without women's full participation, sustainable development cannot be achieved.

• Women have a key role to play in preserving the environment and natural resources, and in promoting sustainable development. For example, women still have the main responsibility for meeting household needs and are therefore a major force in determining consumption trends.

• As the women play a leading role in all the household affairs of a family, which is based on the family values. It is no wonder that the women are outstanding and able to glorify all the national, religious, economic, education, health, cultural fields as they are born of and brought up in the society which gives honors to them.

• As such, women have an essential role to play in the development of sustainable and ecologically sound consumption and production patterns.

Role in prevention of health hazards from environmental pollution

• As every one knows all the activities of any household started with

women from morning to evening.

• They play the keystone role in dealing the air, water, soil, living

creature and all above the environment as a whole.

• As we are very sensitive to the various kinds of environmental

pollutions like water, air, soil and noise pollution.

• And these kinds of pollutions invite the several kinds of diseases like

food poisoning, bacterial, fungal and viral attack and several kinds of

carcinogenic problems.

• The famous women in this are Amita Devi, Maneka Gandhi, Medha

Patekar, Arundhati Royand, Rachel Carson and many more.

Environmental planning

• Environmental planning is a field of study that since the 1970s has

been concerned with a given society's collective stewardship over its

resources that ultimately includes those of the entire planet.

• The aims of environmental planning are to integrate the public sector

urban planning with the concerns of environmentalism to ensure

sustainable development, notably of air, water, soil and rock resources.

• Planning seeks to include into consideration for future growth of

society factors other than those urban planners have traditionally

factored in economic development, such as transportation, sanitation, and

other services in legislator decisions, by working with

environmental planners to add sustainable (social, ecological & equity)

outcomes as important factors in the decision-making process.

Elements of environmental planning• What exactly constitutes the "environment", however, is somewhat open to

debate among these practitioners, as is the exact scope of the intended environmental benefits. Chief concerns among environmental planners include the encouragement of sustainable development, equity, environmental justice, green building technologies, and the preservation of environmentally sensitive areas.

• The primary concern of environmental planning is expressed in the assessment of three spheres of environmental impact by human economic activity and technological output:

– Biophysical environment

– Socio-economic environment

– Built environment

• The environmental planning assessments encompass areas such as land use, socio-economics, transportation, economic and housing characteristics, air pollution, noise pollution, the wetlands, habitat of the endangered species, flood zones susceptibility, coastal zones erosion, and visual studies among others, and is referred to as an Integrated environmental planning assessment.

An objective view of the environmental planning process is often framed in

perspectives offered by the integration of assessments of the natural

resources, the environment as a system, the scientific perspective, and the

social scientific perspective.

As with other forms of planning, the processes in environmental planning

include distinct facets of organisational activity such as:

•Legislative planning framework

•Administrative planning framework

•Environmental resource management planning

•Landscape ecological planning

•Ecological urban planning

•Environmental planning information dissemination

•Decision making in environmental planning