– a gender-neutral approach is inadequate and masculine control has to be opposed (Merchant, 1980).
More romantic environmentalists flag the earth goddess, sensitivity-to-nature aspects of femininity, and see development as too often the ‘rape of nature’ (ecofeminism bibliography – http://www.ecofem.org.biblio/ – accessed March 2005).
There is also highly practical eco-feminism; for example, in the 1980s Anita Roddick used her Body Shop® chain of stores to support fair trade and environmentally sound marketing.
Women are often concerned with local issues and are consumers, so they can play a crucial part in sustainable development efforts.
Donella Meadows was one of The Limits to Growth team; Dame Barbara Ward helped initiate interest in sustainable development in the early 1970s; and Gro Harlem Brundtland placed sustainable development on the world’s political and business agenda (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987; Braiddoti et al., 1994; Harcourt, 1994).