ABSTRACT
“It is beginning to dawn on women that they must assume the responsibility for house-keeping nature.” These words that so succinctly state the connection between women and oikos, the Greek work for “house” from which the science of ecology derives its meaning, were written not by a feminist of the 1980s, but in 1941 by the Swedish critic and reformer Elin Wägner (1882–1949). The insights in her book, Alarmclock, still ring out to women active in the global environmental movement today as they struggle to restore the partnership between humans and nature that is essential for the renewal and continuance of life on earth. In Sweden, as in the United States, the women's movement for care of the earth has been explored from both symbolic and political perspectives. Individual women active in the movement identify with a range of potential strategies and issues. 1
