ABSTRACT
Ecofeminist thinkers have made a substantial contribution in the thoroughgoing analysis and critique of the system of graded differentiation and hierarchical dualism that has set man above woman and culture above nature and spirit above body in ways that are mutually reinforcing and destructive in their effect. They have shown how, under the "logic of domination", this orientation has led to a web of oppressions including the oppression of nature. Rosemary Ruether was one of the first Christian theologians to make the connection between the oppression of women and the oppression of nature. The displacement of "ecologically sound traditional technologies, often created and used by women", along with the destruction of their material basis is generally believed to be responsible for the increase in the "feminization of poverty". The links between gender and ecology are especially strong in rural areas of developing countries where women often experience more immediately the effects of environmental degradation.
