All over the world women and their families are continuously negatively impacted by environmental degradation and disempowerment. In all of the readings for this week you can see the deep rooted connection between the oppression of nature and the oppression of women and their families. Most women around the world suffer from depleted resources. However some women suffer due to their fighting back to defend their resources and cultural connections to land and nature.
Standing Rock: Fighting Back
At the Standing Rock, Native American women were at the forefront of arrests and dehumanization by law enforcement. The reason so many native women were fighting was because the government wanted to be a huge pipeline through the land that they got water from and also just had many spiritual connections to the land because it has been their land before this “3.7 billion dollar project” .(https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/04/dakota-access-pipeline-protest-standing-rock-women-police-abuse) a young woman on the frontlines of the protesting said “Women are the backbone of every tribe and every indigenous community,” many women are considered “water Protectors” and that can be attributed to the matriarchal tribal systems. The primary reason for defending their land was for access to clean water, however many indigenous women and people were fighting for deeper issues like the history of misogyny and abuse towards them . It has been studied that indigenous people are much more likely to be killed by law enforcement than any other marginalized group. It is very worrying that projects like these are advertised to help the economy and government yet no describes the brutalization of women and land that comes with this.
The Brazilian Slum Children
This image was taken from a major metropolis city in Brazil called Recife. The city is known for its beautiful bridges of various colors but the horrific scenes under the bridge is what we are looking at. The canal under the bridge is filled with garbage. in this picture you have a nine year old ” Paulo Henrique “searching to find cans so that he can sell them for his family so they can eat and survive. According to the government there are about 6,500 children in these slums under the bridges. they have a non profit agency in the area to help feed children however they only have enough for 120 of them. We see again how a government is continuously keeping women and their families disempowered. They know that there are not enough resources for these children and families and yet they do not do anything to change the system? This is environmental degradation at its core, these families do not have clean water, air, or soil. their “homes” are destroyed by the over filling of garbage.
Women and Nature: The Bigger Picture
In these various examples we see how the destruction of land directly effects women oppressions and their families. When you take away resources or destroy them by building and building more and more infrastructures you see the damage is done. In the case of Standing Rock these native women were taken from their spiritual roots and this will effect generations of their tribe as well as the good clean quality of water needed for them. In the case of the Brazilian slums you see children starved and plagued by illness and disease because of the trash that fills their neighborhoods . To me it is more than just environmental degradation. The government, states and those in power are intentionally disempowering marginalized people to keep the status quo of the world. If they truly wanted to change and bring upon better outcomes they would change the systems in place not just put bandaids over them.
Bibliography
Correa, Talita. The Brazilian Slum Children Who Are Literally Swimming in Garbage. 30 January 2014. 1 April 2020 <https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kwpwja/the-brazilian-slum-children-who-are-literally-swimming-in-garbage-0000197-v21n1>.
Levin, Sam. “At Standing Rock, women lead fight in face of Mace, arrests and strip searches.” The Guardian (2016).
Hi!
Great post! “Women are the backbone of every tribe and every indigenous community, “was an excellent quote to include. They truly are and they tend to feel the brunt of nature’s destruction and socioeconomic distress. I wrote about Recife, Brazil as well. The first image in the article made me absolutely sick to my stomach. I was horrified to see the children swimming through a canal of garbage. I’m hoping one day I can participate in a mission of some kind. A nurse I used to work with joined an organization that travels to third-world countries and provides medical care. I found it to be quite amazing and hopefully when I become a nurse one day I can give back in that sense.