Submitted by Carolyn MERCHANT on
Ecofeminism emerged in the 1970s with an increasing consciousness of the
connections between women and nature. The term, "ecofeminisme," was coined by
French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in 1974 who called upon women to lead an
ecological revolution to save the planet. Such an ecological revolution would entail new
gender relations between women and men and between humans and nature.
In 1972, French feminist Françoise d'Eaubonne (1920-2005) set up Ecologie-
Féminisme as part of her project of "launching a new action: ecofeminism." Then in 1974
she published her landmark book, Feminism or Death (Françoise d'Eaubonne, Le
Féminisme ou la Mort [Paris: Pierre Horay, 1974])
D'Eaubonne saw ecofeminism as a new humanism that put forth the goals of the
"feminine masses" in an egalitarian administration of a reborn world. A society in the
feminine would not mean power in the hands of women, but no power at all. The human
being would be treated as a human being, not as a male or female. The problem, she said,
paraphrasing Marx, is "to change the world . . . so that there can still be a world." But
only the feminine which is concerned with all levels of society and nature can accomplish
"the ecological revolution." She concluded her work with the telling words: "And the
planet placed in the feminine will flourish for all."
D’Eaubonne’s book is being translated for the first time into English by French
feminist scholar Ruth Hottell. It will be published by Verso Books in 2022. Working
from the English translation of the book being prepared for the first time by Ruth Hottell
of the University of Toledo in Indiana to which the student will have access, the SPUR
project will be to prepare a glossary of terms used by d’Eaubonne.
An undergraduate will assist with understanding the intellectual content of the
manuscript, and preparing a glossary of terms as an appendix to the book. S/he will have
full access to the English translation being prepared by Ruth Hottell and will receive full
acknowledgment in the book when it is published.
An undergraduate student should be interested in (but does not need to be an expert in) the history of
ecofeminism, its history, and the current state of the field of ecofeminism. S/he should be interested in
reading manuscripts and editing them for publication.