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Lead Papers
William M. Alexander, Heather Eaton , Dr. Janet M. Eaton, Nina Hrycak
The focus of the Heather Eaton's paper is to bring ecofeminism into a discussion with the social, political and ecological consequences of globalization,
and to achieve ecofeminism.
One goal is to address the need for adequate responses to the dominant global systems of corporate rule and economic profit and can
leave ecological and social ruin in their wake. It is a step in the evolution of ecofeminism perspectives in dialogue with the intent of
liberation from the vantage points of liberation theologies, North/South experiences, and radical and political movements.
For some time I have wanted to bring the global economic agenda into the centre of ecological and feminist religious reflections. I sense
the urgency of this task, and the need for our ecofeminist reflections to be pertinent to the global economic ghoul that is shaping many
levels of current reality. In a desire to evaluate the power and liberatory potential of ecofeminist discourses in light of globalization, and
in particular global corporate rule, I began this inquiry. A further desire was to expand the capabilities of ecofeminist liberation
theologies to confront globalization. This article is a reflection on the process of attempting these goals. In brief, the results have been a
disturbing realization of the power of corporate rule, and the fallibility of ecofeminism.
In an initial approach to the relationship between ecofeminism and
globalization, I drafted, what seemed to be, useful categories of
reflection: 1) to challenge the theoretical framework of religious ecofeminism to move beyond the cultural, ideological and conceptual
connections between women and nature into acknowledging the centrality of the concrete incidents of deforestation, drought, pollution,
militarization and socio-economic impoverishment; 2) to support the need for religious critiques of the dominant global systems of
economic profit which function through oppression of those who benefit least, and leave ecological and social ruin in its wake; 3) to
suggest paths of liberation from the vantage points of ecofeminist liberation theologies, North/South experiences, and radical religious
movements.
Condemned by individual governments and the United Nations as the most widely reviled abuse of women's human rights , military
sexual atrocities against women continue unabated at the dawn of the third
millennium (Janet M. Eaton).
Fifty years after the universal declaration on human rights assured that the atrocities of world war II would never again be repeated,
these violent and abhorrent war crimes stand as a shameful indictment of male militarized violence against women at this period in
history. And in a climate where militarism, fundamentalism and neo-liberalism turn a blind eye to human rights and have contributed to
the expansion of armed conflict around the world, the fear of sexual violence dominates the life of every woman living in today's war
zones.
Feminists identify rape as a systemic, historical and patriarchal construct of war.
Throughout
history, rape has been an omnipresent aspect of militarism, and to this day, basic military training establishes women as targets for
sexual conquer. This endemic sexual violence against women in conflict zones reflects an ingrained misogyny which views women as
the "spoils of war", whether for satisfying the sexual appetites of the troops, destroying the community pride of the vanquished,
punishing women who have resisted their conquerors, or as part of an overall strategy of genocide.
It is unconscionable that such horrendous atrocities have been hidden from mainstream world view until the last decade of the 20th
century.
Alexander discussed first, the persistence of extraordinarily high levels of gender inequality and female deprivation are among India’s most serious social
failures. Few other regions of the world have achieved so little promoting gender justice.
Second, gender inequality does not decline automatically with the process of economic
growth. In fact, we have seen that some
important forces operate in the reverse direction .
Third, gender inequality is not only a social failure in itself, it also leads to other social failures. We have illustrated this link in some
detail with particular reference to child mortality and general fertility.
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