ABSTRACT
The present chapter addresses the urgent issue of environmental degradation and its impact on vulnerable populations, specifically women, girl children and gender minorities. The chapter uses the concept of vulnerability, as discursive and material, to demonstrate the compromised agency, justice and state accountability within a neoliberal frame of development. Eco-feminism is used as a theoretical lens to understand the extractive relationship between patriarchy, capitalism and the environment, highlighting the similarities between the domination and subordination of women and nature. The chapter also uses an intersectional framework to examine the multiple dimensions and modalities of social relations and subject formation that impact women’s negotiation of disadvantage in the context of environmental degradation. It argues that women’s agency cannot be overlooked in discussions on vulnerability, power and agency.
The chapter concludes by exploring strategies advocated by marginalized genders in the context of environmental degradation and emphasizes the need to bring their voices and experiences to the forefront of decision-making on sustainable development, disaster management and climate change mitigation. The chapter highlights the urgency of this issue and the need to move towards sustainable and equitable forms of development.
