ABSTRACT
The main aim of this chapter is to highlight the relationship between women and the environment by understanding their involvement in the process of protection of the environment. To understand the root of this connection, it is important to understand the ideological representation of women with nature and men with culture. It is the main base of the argument put forth by the perspective of eco-feminism that in patriarchal thought, both women and nature are considered inferior to culture or to men, as men are associated with culture.
As argued by Vandana Shiva, ‘women has a kind of special dependence as well as knowledge of the nature’. This special relation that women share with the environment must be understood as rooted in the process of their interaction with the environment. Environment is closely related to women through subsistence agriculture as well as domestic chores. They are also more likely to be affected by environmental degradation. However, women are also seen playing the primary role in the process of protecting the environment by actively engaging themselves in various ecological movements. As the domination of both women and nature has occurred together, women have a stake in ending such domination.
