Role of Women in Indian Environmental Movements

 

Question: Role of Women in Indian Environmental Movements

The role of women in Indian environmental movements has been pivotal, embodying resilience, leadership, and a deep connection to nature as nurturers and sustainers of community resources. From colonial-era resistances to contemporary campaigns, women have driven change through grassroots activism, often linking ecological preservation with gender justice and social equity. Figures like Gaura Devi and Medha Patkar exemplify this, challenging patriarchal and developmental paradigms since the 1970s. This involvement, rooted in traditional roles managing water and forests, has amplified movements' impacts, influencing policies and global feminism. In conclusion, women's contributions have not only safeguarded environments but also advanced empowerment, offering lessons in intersectional activism for sustainable futures.

Historical Foundations in Colonial Period

Women's environmental roles trace to colonial times, where policies like the 1878 Forest Act displaced communities, prompting resistances. In the 1855 Santhal Rebellion, Phulo and Jhano Murmu led women warriors against land grabs in Bihar, using traditional bows in battles that killed officials. The 1891-1895 Munda Revolt saw women supporting Birsa Munda's call to reclaim forests, with songs preserving oral histories of ecological harmony.

Post-Independence Pioneering Efforts

Post-1947, women confronted development projects; in the 1950s Rihand Dam protests in Uttar Pradesh, tribal women petitioned against submergence affecting 100 villages. The 1960s Chipko precursors in Uttarakhand involved women like Bachni Devi resisting liquor shops linked to forest degradation since 1962 prohibition lifts.

Chipko and Women's Leadership

The 1973 Chipko Movement marked a turning point, with Gaura Devi's 1974 Reni action where 27 women hugged trees, defying loggers for hours. Sunderlal Bahuguna's wife Vimla supported logistics during his 1981 march. Women's ideology tied to daily survival—collecting fuelwood covering 10 kilometers daily—framed deforestation as gender violence.

Narmada Bachao Andolan and Medha Patkar

Founded in 1985, NBA's Medha Patkar, starting fieldwork in 1985, led submergence protests, enduring 1989 arrests and 1993 hunger strikes. Women like Luharia Bai organized villages, with 1991 Manibeli satyagraha seeing hundreds court arrest. Patkar's 2000 Supreme Court arguments highlighted displacement of 40,000 families, mostly women losing farmlands.

Silent Valley and Literary Activism

In the 1976 Silent Valley campaign, poet Sugathakumari's verses mobilized public opinion, forming Prakriti Samrakshana Samithi in 1978. Women scientists like Zuleikha Mayar contributed biodiversity studies in 1979, aiding Indira Gandhi's 1983 project halt.

Appiko and Southern Mobilization

The 1983 Appiko Movement saw women like Manjana Gouda leading embraces in Karnataka, protesting eucalyptus plantations depleting water since 1970s. Pandurang Hegde noted women's 1984 padayatras covering 500 kilometers, linking to health impacts like malnutrition.

Eco-Feminism and Vandana Shiva

Vandana Shiva's Navdanya, founded in 1987, promotes seed banks, empowering women farmers against GM crops since Monsanto's 1998 entry. Her 1988 book "Staying Alive" theorized women's nature connection, influencing 1990s movements like anti-shrimp farming in Tamil Nadu led by fisherwomen under Fatima Babu.

Urban and Industrial Campaigns

In the 1984 Bhopal disaster, women like Rashida Bee formed the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh in 1989, advocating compensation for 150,000 affected women. The 2004 Plachimada anti-Coca-Cola protest in Kerala, led by Mayilamma from 2002, shut the plant in 2004 over groundwater depletion.

Contemporary Roles and Climate Activism                          www.osmanian.com

In the 2010s, women like Disha Ravi in 2019 Fridays for Future organized climate strikes, facing 2021 arrest for toolkit sharing. In Odisha, Prafulla Samantara's 2005 leadership against Vedanta mining, awarded the 2017 Goldman Prize, involved women guarding Niyamgiri hills sacred since Dongria Kondh traditions.

Challenges and Empowerment

Women faced violence, like 1993 NBA assaults, but gained agency; the 1980s Self-Employed Women's Association by Ela Bhatt linked environment to livelihoods for 2 million by 2020.

Global Influence and Future Directions

Indian women's activism inspired international eco-feminism, with Shiva addressing UN forums since 1992. Future strategies focus on climate adaptation, like women's collectives in Sundarbans managing mangroves post-2009 Cyclone Aila.