Eco-feminine spirituality is a value system that would permit reframing the social context of diversity for women within their culture. It provides ethical and spiritual dimensions for social and environmental changes because it recognizes and accepts the sacred as universal, immanent, transcendent, and transformational. In embracing these four dimensions, eco-feminine spirituality rejects value systems rooted in the patriarchal worldview of hierarchal thinking, dualistic values and norms, and perceptions of domination. Further, it calls for a transformation in the beliefs, norms, and values of individuals in their environment. This value system would empower women to make decisions that would take into account the social and cultural context of their lives. Ultimately, eco-feminism promises to resolve some of the major social problems, such as violence against women and poverty. Eco-feminine spirituality for women in diversified cultures is understood through the theoretical framework of bioregionalism, which identifies a geographical region of interacting life forms that are self-sustaining and regenerating through the dynamics of community and its socialization process. (Berry, 1997). This includes supporting and sustaining women and their roles and basic human rights for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Many physiological and psychological needs in building community are related to family laws, which are meant to preserve the unity of family life. The family as a basic unit of society is a universally accepted concept, but family life as lived within a culture requires sustainability in the development of the family laws to protect all members equally. Cultural identity and social customs are often connected with family laws, such as those governing marriage. Unfortunately, many of the conditions in the laws are rooted in a patriarchal perspective and propagated through political and religious agendas. Social status allows an individual in society to have power over those with less social status. In many underdeveloped countries, it is martial status that determines a woman’s position and security within society. The acceptance of eco-feminine spirituality as at least part of one’s cultural belief system, including those based on a patriarchal system, would be beneficial in numerous countries and especially in undeveloped countries that foster gender inequality.

Embracing eco-feminine spirituality as part of one’s cultural identity will create a value system based on changing social customs and family laws for both men and women. Thus, it will transform the hierarchal thinking from the right of status and privilege to the right of equality, diversity, and equity, by transforming concepts of power that control relationships of domination and subordination to concepts of oneness and interconnectedness. It will empower individuals with the value of immanence, respecting the sacredness of each individual by viewing differences as enriching rather than as dualistic and oppositional. Eco-feminine spirituality will create an immanence of empowerment for both women and men, which will raise the social status of women without compromising the social status of men. Further, changes in social customs and family laws will lead to a sustainable development for future generations based on a sacred respect of equality. Finally, it promises to diminish two major concerns in contemporary society: violence against women and poverty.

The principle of self-nourishing requires that members in the community establish patterns and norms that sustain all members equally. Ancient history supports the domination of women by men: Women were considered property, a method to insure man’s heritage and prosperity; Roman law supported the belief that the husband was absolute ruler, and he had a legal right to discipline his wife; and in English Common Law, the “Rule of Thumb” gave the man power to chastise his wife and administer protective measures. Domestic violence against women takes several forms across the globe, such as verbal and physical abuse, rape, incest, elder abuse, and female genital mutilation. Violence against women reduces the women’s security, self-confidence and self-esteem, necessary for them to live productive lives. Violence against women contributes to the social and public problem for all women because it has no boundaries for discrimination against women of all cultures, races, occupations, income levels, and ages. Ending violence against women demands more than the legal interventions outlined in the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights: “equal access to justice, equal protection of the law, and effective remedies for victims of violence; and freedom from violence associated with armed conflict, including murder, systematic rape, sexual slavery” (Koenig, p.2). 

While acknowledgment from the international community concerning the plight of victimized women is welcome progress, there remains the need for a change in the perception of male-dominated institutions responsible for enforcing these rights. Eco-feminine spirituality provides a value system for the implementation of human rights against domestic violence. It cultivates empowerment and resilient transformation, which would decrease the perpetuation of violence towards women. Eco-feminine spirituality inspires transcendence to a higher power beyond victim and perpetrator, and it can serve the restorative function of helping women to discover their ability to become strong and resilient survivors, rather than weak and vulnerable victims.

Eco-feminism proposes that women espouse the principles: self-education and self-fulfillment.  The function of self-education requires the evolutionary process of holistic and experiential learning, as well as the integration of knowledge. Knowledge is power; but education is empowerment that creates sustainable development for women to participate equally in daily life. Although education is a fundamental right of both men and women, equality in access to education on all levels is crucial so that women might obtain an equal place in economic, religious, political and social life. According to the Human Rights and Education report, 100 million children, 60% of whom are girls, do not have access to primary education; 960 million adults in the world are illiterate; two-thirds of whom are women. (Koenig, 2002, p.1). The most common reasons given for prohibiting education for women is the parents’ adherence to the traditional division of labor in a family: the girl will be a housewife and mother as dictated by the societal norms set forth by a dowry system in many countries. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, (General Assembly of the United Nations resolution 34/180) affirms the equality of human rights for women and men in society and in the family. The Convention has an important place in the international treaties concerned with human rights. However, the progress is slow in some countries. 

For sustainable social development, economic, social, and health agencies in developing countries need to initiate more educational programs for women and children of all ages. They must incorporate the basic human rights toward freedom from discrimination based on gender. More focus on a woman’s access to scholarships and fellowships, career development, continuing education, and vocational training is vital to improving the status of women worldwide. The education of young girls is imperative to women’s economic empowerment. Educational advancement and successful employment enhances a woman’s self-esteem and her status in her home and community. The eco-feminist value system advocates that the intrinsic value of education for women is multifaceted and that it is important in developing women’s roles as mothers, workers, and citizens. Eco-feminism inspires the recognition of education as an intervention for women in discovering their own abilities to reach their full potential.

The principle of eco-feminism, the self-fulfilling function, is found in the individual’s various activities within the community. Individuals embrace the spiritual mystery of life and create a life-giving energy for self-actualization. Especially for women, it requires the immersion and integration into one’s cultural identity through the socialization practices of work roles within the community. The work place has proved to offer opportunities for the fostering of self-esteem and self-actualization; yet relevant social rules with their prominence and or enforcement in community and society challenges social justice in the respect for the dignity of work and the rights of workers, especially the rights of women.  In underdeveloped countries, women perform work traditionally considered unskilled: household tasks, and, outside of the home, midwifery, farming and manufacturing. Women’s labor is devalued by men because they fear that the women will become empowered economically. Such problems as equal rights, comparable pay and aid for childcare are women’s issues because they speak of subordination of women. The adoption of eco-feminine spirituality challenges the work ethic. It permits women to embrace the spiritual values of cooperation, equilibrium, and mutuality, and it empowers them for self-actualization. By rejecting the engendered principles of dominance, it promises to undermine the spirit of Darwinism, which pervades the workforce. Diversity demands the elimination of negative attitudes towards women, who experience family and work pressures.

According to Koenig, “Women represent 50% of the world’s population, perform two-thirds of hours of worked, and receive one-tenth of the world’s income.” (2004. p.1). Women make up half the global population and are the key resources in building a sustainable community; yet the majority of the world’s poor are women. Poverty has been measured in terms of income or expenditure levels that can sustain a minimum standard of living. Whether poverty is categorized by being absolute, relative, or extreme, it is still poverty when one cannot afford the basic goods to sustain life. Lack of equal property rights is still a major cause of the feminization of poverty. Eradicating poverty is not just a matter of increasing income and supplying market commodities; rather, it requires creating a sustainable model of development for needy populations that will not be diminished by global market conditions and geo-political maneuvering. Developing eco-feminine spirituality transforms the individual’s provincial worldview to a universal world economy that recognizes the needs of all people. This requires equality of access to the world’s resources, the ability to own resources, and the power to make decisions affecting resources.        

As spirituality becomes accepted as a central element within the worldwide community, there will be a need for a variety of spiritual paradigms to study issues of importance to practitioners and academicians. The Social Work profession needs a variety of spiritual paradigms to study issues of importance to practitioners and academicians. Eco-feminist spirituality and its four dimensions universality, immanence, transcendence and transformation, can be useful in developing programs that address the need for social development across the globe. Eco-feminine spirituality, can be useful in developing programs that address the needs for the social development of vulnerable populations, particularly women. Implementation of eco-feminine spirituality requires a stance that challenges prevailing attitudes, norms, and actions that affect the realization of equality.

References

Berry, T. The Dream of the Earth. Los Angeles: Sierra Book Club, 1997.

Koenig, S. “People’s Movement for Human Rights.” Women, Human Rights and Poverty.  2002. 
          http://pdhre.org/rights/womenandpoverty.htlm.