Ecofeminist political economy and the politics of money

Ecofeminism, as its name implies, brings together the insights of feminism and ecology. Feminism is concerned with the way in which women in general have been subordinated to men in general. Ecologists are concerned that human activity is destroying the viability of ecosystems. Ecofeminist political economy argues that the two are linked. This linkage is not seen as stemming from some essentialist female identification with nature, for which some early ecofeminists were criticised, but from womens position in society, particularly in relation to masculine-dominated economic systems. What ecofeminist political economy explores is the gendering of economic systems. It sees a material link between the externalisation and exploitation of nature. For ecofeminist political economy, the economy is a boundaried system that excludes or marginalises many aspects of human existence and of nonhuman nature. This problem of externalisation is one explored by many green and feminist economists, but finding a solution is more problematic.