How the ecological footprint is sex-gendered: Implications of eco-feminism for an eco-socialist theory and praxis

Abstract

The chapter argues that unless eco-socialism is sex-gender literate, it cannot even begin to function as a democratic politics. The essay amplifies eco-feminism using the ecological footprint indicator, and addresses sex-gender differences in energy consumption patterns, preferred solutions to climate change, and policy decision-making styles at international forums like the IPCC. Eco-feminists attend to the logic of women's reproductive labour, and how it engages a different set of values from those in the productive economic sector. An eco-socialist politics must find a way to accommodate this 'difference', if it is to be a globally just and deep green theory and movement. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.