Feminist Environmentalism and Neo-Liberal Globalization: Activist Initiatives for Environmental Rights and Justice.

A growing body of literature within feminist environmentalism is challenging and shifting paradigms in public health, ecology, science and philosophy. However, although women’s rights activists have seen that environmental degradation, neo-liberal globalization and human rights abuses are inextricably linked (for example, some women’s environmental groups are attentive to the linkages between food sovereignty, the right to own their own land and control what they produce on it without the interference of transnational corporations and their own bodily health and well being) feminist environmental theorists typically do not critically reflect on the utility of this approach. This paper asks - What analytical and strategic purchase does the human rights framework have for women’s environmental activists and theorists who wish to challenge neo-liberal globalization and its impact on the environment? This question is important and timely for two reasons: a) examining some of the human rights strategies that feminist environmental activists have used might suggest emancipatory paths of liberation from the current global system of economic profit which leaves ecological ruin in its wake; b) analyzing activist human rights strategies against neo-liberalism might point in directions for greater coalition building between feminist environmentalists, environmental justice advocates and those who work within the framework of feminist ecological theology. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]