Panel on Ecofeminism

6th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WOMEN’S STUDIES: How Far Have We Got?

18.01.2020.

Leeds, United Kingdom

Venue: Queens Hotel, City Square, Leeds, LS1 1PJ

CFP: PANEL ON ECOFEMINISM

Ecology and environmental protection have historically been a women’s issue, and women who advocated for the protection of the planet have been labelled as hysterical when the advocacy first started. Due to bad label and some disagreements (inherent to social sciences and humanities), some ecofeminists distanced themselves from ecofeminism and started to discuss environmental feminism, however, the debate has not changed. Women have historically been interested in the environment and its protection and they remain interested up to the present day.

Recently, however, environmental protection has finally come to the public and media agenda, with topics such as plastic pollution, global warming and food waste dominating the public and media discourse. However, at the same time, policymakers and media still push for global trade and economic growth and policies are often in contradiction with the protection of the planet.

Nevertheless, the population rise is also getting addressed, however, this is addressed in a shallow way and without tackling the underlying issue, which is the fact that women do not have control of their bodies in major parts of the world and thus access to contraception and abortions is lacking. At the same time, many Far Right movements are emerging in the West trying to turn the clock back and control the reproduction of women, thus effectively undermining decades of the plight for women equality and this is again contributing to the population problem further.

This panel, therefore, invites scholars and practitioners to debate how we can move forward, and how can ecofeminists respond to ecological and human rights challenges women are facing with the growth of Far Right in the West and also historically elsewhere in the world. What changes do we need to push for to stop this growth of radicalism, whose impact fundamentally affects women? How can we truly protect the planet and what policies are needed to do so?

Papers are invited (but not limited to) for the following topics,

Ecofeminist theory

Ecofeminism: case studies from environmental and ecofeminist activists

Ecofeminist communities around the world

Sustainable growth

Sustainable policies

Sustainability in the media

Women and Far Right

Reproductive rights and the population growth

Submissions of abstracts (up to 500 words) with an email contact should be sent to Dr Martina Topić (martinahr@gmail.com) by 15 October 2019. Decisions will be sent by 1 November 2019 and registrations are due by 15 December 2019. In case we collect enough abstracts earlier, we will send decisions earlier.

The Conference fee is GBP180, and it includes,

The registration fee

Conference bag and folder with materials

Access to the newsletter, and electronic editions of the Centre

Opportunity for participating in future activities of the Centre (research & co-editing volumes)

Meals and drinks

WLAN during the conference

Certificate of attendance

Centre for Research in Humanities and Social Sciences is a private institution originally founded in December 2013 in Croatia (EU). Since July 2016 the Centre is registered in Leeds, UK.

Participants are responsible for finding funding to cover transportation and accommodation costs during the whole period of the conference. This applies to both presenting and non-presenting participants. The Centre will not discriminate based on the origin and/or methodological/paradigmatic approach of prospective conference participants.

Visa Information

The Centre will issue a Visa letter to participants with UK entry clearance requirement. The British Home Office has a very straightforward procedure, which is not excessively long and the Centre will also issue early decisions to participants with Visa requirements.