Eco/Marxist/Multicultural & Global Feminisms

There are many factors that I like about Eco-feminism. Eco-feminism believes that women is naturally associated with nature. Man make it their goal to overcome nature; and therefore, to suppress women. Looking at nature from a linguistic standpoint, there is Father-sky and Mother-earth. The sky is above the earth, indicating male superiority over women even in nature. The goal of Eco-feminism is to take the association of women with nature and to turn it into a positive image. A beautiful example of women standing up for their connection with nature occurred in a village in Nigeria. The men wanted to cut down the trees to sell them for money. The women valued the trees, because they provided firewood, shade, and protection from the river (with erosion, flooding, etc.). To prevent the men from chopping down the trees, the women tied themselves to the trees. I love this example of women coming together to protect their connection with the environment.

Marxist and Socialist feminism focuses mainly on the rights of women in the workplace. I love this branch of feminism, because I see equality in the work place as a huge issue in the United States. Marxist/Socialist feminism asks why jobs dominated by men are paid higher than jobs dominated by women. It focuses on the invisible labor of women that men do not have to worry about, such as child care, cooking, cleaning, and reproduction in times of war. For me, work rights (and division of work) both inside and outside the home are extremely important. Marxist and Socialist feminism is very appealing to me.

Multicultural/Global feminism recognizes the diversity of women in the world. It resists the idea of female essentialism and identifies with the "multiple jeopardy" of many women between race, class, etc. Multicultural/Global feminism tries to incorporate the interests of women in both the 3rd and 1st world nations. One of my favorite aspects of Multicultural/Global feminism is the want to replace the word "feminist" with "womanist" to indicate pro-woman as not being anti-man.

I see Eco, Marxist, and Multicultural feminism as all positive aspects of feminism, and I can relate to all of them.