Women, the Earth, and the struggle for Environmental Justice

 

This World Environment Day, as the world speaks of ‘Solutions to Plastic Pollution’, we must ask a deeper question: “Who suffers the most when our natural systems collapse?” And conversely, “Who stands up first to protect them?”

The answer, again and again, has been: “Women”.

 

In India and across the globe, women are not only disproportionately affected by climate change, resource depletion, and pollution, but they are also leading the movement for ecological balance. Whether it is safeguarding forests, conserving seeds, or promoting sustainable practices in urban settings -- women have emerged as powerful and persistent agents of environmental change.

 

 

Environmental crises are not gender-neutral.

From climate-induced displacement to growing water scarcity, the brunt is most often borne by women, especially those from rural and marginalised communities.

 

• Nearly 80% of people displaced due to climate-related disasters globally are women, as per UN Women.
  
  
• In India’s villages, it is largely women who walk miles for water, gather fuelwood, and care for livestock — tasks growing more difficult due to erratic weather and deforestation.

• During natural disasters like the Uttarakhand floods in 2022, women faced an invisible second crisis: unpaid care work, lost incomes, and lack of sanitation.

Environmental degradation compounds existing gender inequality, pushing women further into vulnerability — but also drawing them into leadership.

 

 

While women suffer greatly due to ecological imbalance, they also possess generational wisdom to restore it.

In India, women manage 60–70% of household-level natural resources — whether it is cooking fuel, water, or food. Their deep connection to soil, seeds, and seasons has preserved biodiversity through practices like seed-saving, organic farming, and communal sharing.

 

Movements, such as the Chipko Andolan weren’t theoretical ideas of sustainability. They were acts of survival, led by women like Gaura Devi, who in 1974, rallied village women to physically embrace trees and stop their felling. Her courage inspired India’s first forest conservation movement and global awareness around grassroots eco-feminism.

 

Female-led initiatives in composting, terrace farming, and green entrepreneurship are transforming localities into eco-conscious communities. Influencers, educators, and bloggers—many of them women—are simplifying sustainability for everyday citizens.

 

 

Across India, from tribal hamlets to international forums; from silent forests to urban alleys, women are not just participating in the environmental movement, but they are leading it.They are reshaping the country’s environmental consciousness. Many pioneering names have shaped India's ecological vision through activism, scholarship, and grassroots mobilisation. Their work has inspired thousands of women to take up the mantle of climate justice in their own communities.

 

In the recent years, some have become household names:

 

• Tulsi Gowda, with over 40,000 trees nurtured, earned the Padma Shri for her lifelong dedication to afforestation in Karnataka 
• Rahibai Popere, the “Seed Mother” of Maharashtra, conserved indigenous seed varieties and taught sustainable farming — winning the Padma Shri and Nari Shakti Puraskar. 
• Saalumarada Thimmakka, a banyan tree protector, got global recognition and national honours for her ecological stewardship. She too has been honoured with Padma Shri. 
• And Gaura Devi, remembered for defending Himalayan forests with nothing but resilience and sisterhood, became a symbol of eco-resistance. 

· In states like Maharashtra, Odisha, and Assam, women’s Self-Help Groups now manage everything from biogas units and solar-powered irrigation pumps to community seed banks — building resilience from the ground up.

· These same women are also at the forefront of resisting land encroachments, deforestation, and mining projects, often at enormous personal risk. Their leadership defies the stereotype of environmental work being “technical” or “male-dominated.”

 

These women did not wait for policy or privilege — they simply acted. In doing so, they reminded the nation that ecology and equality are inseparable. Their stories underscore a crucial truth: climate leadership must not only be inclusive — it must be gender-just.

 

 

Women are already carrying the environmental burden and leading the solutions. The question is — how can we support them?

Here are some simple but powerful ways:

• Support female farmers and artisans who use eco-friendly practices.
• Choose sustainable menstrual products—and talk about them.
• Push for climate policy that includes women’s representation and leadership.
• Volunteer with or amplify women-led environmental campaigns in your locality.

 

Encourage schools, colleges, and RWAs to host awareness programs on gender and ecology.

Change begins when we recognise that sustainability isn’t just a lifestyle — it’s a justice movement.

Women and Nature — Not separate, not silent

Like nature, women are often expected to give endlessly — to nurture, regenerate, and carry burdens without complaint. Yet, both remain exploited and under-protected.

This World Environment Day, we must move beyond lip service. It’s time for real inclusion — of women’s wisdom, work, and leadership — in our environmental policies and narratives.

Because saving the planet isn’t just about protecting trees or oceans.

It’s about recognising the rural woman walking miles for clean water, the urban homemaker quietly composting, and the activist fighting against illegal mining.

Environmental justice is gender justice.

Let’s act like it.

 

Follow Drishti Stree Adhyayan Prabodhan Kendra for more research-based, feminist analysis on current issues.

Together, let’s build a world that is sustainable, inclusive, and just.