Ecofeminism: New Liberation Paths for Women and Nature

Abstract

The deterioration of the environment and the responsibilities of faith have led theology to search for new paths of response and transformation. Hence, ecofeminism responds to this challenge, by making a creative link between the domination experienced by women and nature. Women and nature are not identified as one, but they can be allies in a search for common liberation. In this article, these possibilities are explored; their limits and ranges are discussed, and new paths for epistemological and theological renovation are proposed. These paths are capable of strengthening ecological responsibility and, simultaneously, weakening the patriarchal mentality as well as the predator capitalist system, with the harmful consequences they have brought to the history of humankind.Exchange 44 (2015) 64-82 These reflections are deepened in this article in four sections: (1) initial considerations which locate us in ecofeminism; (2) a brief look to the development of ecofeminism in Latin America; (3) some fundamental articulations for this theological current; and (4) a critical assessment of this way of thinking, pointing out its ranges and limits.All that has been presented here is offered as a starting point for a wider debate which should be brought into the academic scope, one that sometimes lacks of the richness of these human dimensions -caring, spirituality, motherhood, affection, etc. -which have been culturally attributed to women, but which belong to the whole humanity.