The advocacy, agency and competency of women activists participating in the Australian ...

374 Pages·2015·1.37 MB·English

by  Yulia Maleta

The advocacy, agency and competency of women activists
participating in the Australian environmental movement

By
© Yulia Maleta, 2014
B.A. (Hons)

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree (Social Sciences)
in
School of Social Sciences and Psychology,
University of Western Sydney
November 2014

i
Acknowledgements

I acknowledge the contribution of the Australian women salaried and volunteer
environmental activists whose voluntary participation has made this PhD research
thesis possible. I enjoyed conducting interviews with the women members of
grassroots organisations, eNGOs, the Greens party and academic institutions. As an
environmental advocate, I learned about the movement and women’s integral role.

I note the professional guidance and encouraging support of my thesis supervisors,
Assoc. Prof. Mary Hawkins and Assoc. Prof. Rosemary Leonard, of the School of
Social Sciences and Psychology (SSAP), University of Western Sydney, NSW,
Australia. My supervisors worked closely with my over the years and contributed to
my progress and development.

The School of Social Sciences and Psychology should also be noted for their support
in my research and writing as well as funding of conferences and events. In particular,
I note the support of Kerry Robinson, Michael Darcy, Vicki Fox, Assoc. Prof. Debbie
Horsfall, Sharyn McGee, Sue Veen and Leigh Bambury. I also note the support of
postgraduate members: Miriam Hynes, Oishee Alam, and Rosemary Bowman.

In addition, I acknowledge Dr Marie Fellbaum-Korpi, Coordinator of the University
of Western Sydney’s Higher Degree Writing Circle. The postgraduate member’s
critiques in the Circle were of immeasurable support to my writing development.

Further, I acknowledge the intellectual guidance of ecofeminist academic, Ariel
Salleh.

I also acknowledge the support of Blacktown City Council in conference events.

ii
Statement of Authentication

The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original
except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this
material, either in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution.

_______YMaleta__________________________________

iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................. ii
STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION ..................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... iv
ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................................ v
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... vi

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW TO THESIS ................................................................ 1

CHAPTER ONE. An insight to ecofeminism, patriarchal practices and women’s
activism within environmental organisations ............................................................................... 15
CHAPTER TWO. Capturing a masculinist culture of work and gender
performativity ............................................................................................................................... 55
CHAPTER THREE. Considering the theoretical and practical implications of agency
and competency in the context of women’s environmental activism ........................................... 94
CHAPTER FOUR. Methodology and Methods ....................................................................... 135
CHAPTER FIVE. Agency and competency in the context of women’s environmental
activism ....................................................................................................................................... 164
CHAPTER SIX. The gendered nature of the elite: ‘the boys club’ and leadership
styles ......................................................................................................................................... 203
CHAPTER SEVEN. Maternal Identity and the ‘role of mother’ within professional
and grassroots environmental advocacy ..................................................................................... 240
CHAPTER EIGHT. Conclusion to Thesis ............................................................................... 275

REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................... 304

Appendix 1. Biographies and Sociological Snapshots: An Introduction to my
participants .................................................................................................................................. 349
Appendix 2. Sample of Interview Questions ............................................................................. 365
Appendix 3. Recruitment flyer ................................................................................................... 368
iv
Abbreviations

Bar: Barrister’s court

CALD: Culturally And Linguistically Diverse backgrounds

CO : Carbon dioxide
2

EEO: Equal Employment Opportunity

eNGO: Environmentalist Nongovernmental Organisation

ENSM: Environmentalist New Social Movement

GGCA: Global Gender and Climate Alliance

glocal: global and local

INGOs: International Nongovernmental Organisations

LFP: Labour-Force Participation

LGAs: Local Government Authorities

NGO: Nongovernmental Organisation

NSM: New Social Movement

OAM: Order of Australia, Medal of

PAR: Participatory Action Research

TNCs: Transnational Companies
v
Abstract

This feminist sociocultural thesis links theory to practice in its exploration of
the gendered roles and work-based identities of women activists participating in the
Australian environmental movement. Drawing upon 31 interviews from my
qualitative analysis with women working in grassroots organisations, eNGOs, Greens
parties, and academia, I investigate participants agency and competency and their
ambitions for environmental reforms. Three major areas of intellectual context are
women’s activism, gender performativity, and, agency and competency in
environmental advocacy. I argue that gender is an active performance, in how
women’s experiences are informed by social relations of power and the negotiation of
masculinity and femininity (Butler 1990, 2006; Phillips & Knowles 2012).
Feminist, ecofeminist and social/environmental movement studies
contextualise the struggles and achievements of women, and such theory provides a
lens to my empirical analysis. My goal is to investigate the extent to which the women
in my research recognise the patriarchal control of their organisations and also the
social elites in governance and industry (Plumwood 1997; Leahy 2003; Cockburn
2012). Gender barriers, in the form of the sexual division of labour and glass ceilings,
entail challenges for women’s status in the workplace (Mellor 1997; Connell 2009;
Mellor 2009, 2012). Within a social hierarchy, the agency and competency of my
participants is evidenced through their negotiation of masculinity and femininity as
well as strategies of resistance and accommodation towards male power and labels.
My qualitative findings reveal contradictions and insights. Women identify
with emphasized and resistant forms of femininity. Core insights from my data-driven
analysis are ‘the boys club’, token women and maternal identity in environmental
activism. A contradiction was that some participants reject feminist labels, yet gender
differences were found across the results. My accounts further illustrate that activism,
age and culture can be more of a barrier than gender. This thesis adds knowledge to
areas of feminism, qualitative studies and movement scholarship. Thus, my research
highlights the activist strategies of women environmentalists across paid and unpaid
sectors, and pinpoints feminist and environmental issues that link theory to practice.
Keywords: feminist/ecofeminist, grassroots, professional, ‘boys club’, token
women, maternal ‘nurturing’ identity
vi
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Introduction and Overview to Thesis
Introduction
This feminist sociocultural qualitative constructivist thesis explores the
agency and competency of Australian women salaried and voluntary activists
participating in grassroots organisations, eNGOs, Greens parties, and academia. I
argue that women perform gender in their active negotiation of masculinity and
femininity. This involves performances of resistant and emphasized femininities. I
develop the theoretical position that women experience gender as a barrier and an
enabler. Feminist, ecofeminist and social movement theory, along with a specific
feminist lens on my empirical results, support this position. In relation to theory and
practice, a complex gendered culture of work, influenced by dominant notions of
masculinity and male values, entails a barrier towards full female participation in the
workforce. A masculinist culture is evidenced through gender differences along with
women’s struggle to achieve work/life balances. This is evidenced by the women
recognise masculinist elites in their organisations and in governance and industry. In
my results, data-driven insights into ‘the boys club’ and women as token members on
climate panels illustrates a sexual division of labour and glass ceilings in place.
Although women encounter labels of female incompetency, they demonstrate
merit and prowess. In turn, their agency and competency challenges the patriarchal
control of organisations, and also the dominance of social elites in industry.
Participants’ empowerment relates to the way gender is an active process of doing
masculinity and femininity. I argue that when women exercise power and resist
labels, they are also challenging male power and masculinist practices. Women’s
agency and competency therefore represents a threat to ruling elites and dominant
notions of hegemonic masculinity. Further, women environmentalists are
participating in an organisational context and through their working roles, they are
also contributing to the women’s and environmental movements. However, I am
aware of reproducing labels and stereotypes. I consider that women who join the
environmental movement may be influenced by feminism yet my participant’s may
not solely define themselves by gender.
As there is no previous research on women’s agency and competency in
either the salaried or the grassroots capacities of environmental activism: this
research addresses this gap and makes a valid contribution to both feminism and
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environmentalism. This thesis presents a claim to truth, and is not necessarily ‘the
truth’ per say. In relation to my interview accounts, this thesis provides evidence to
what activists are doing and what they claim is the truth. I have accumulated
evidence on how women participants’ see their activist practice in relation to gender,
and these examples contextualise the focus of my thesis. Hence, my claim to
knowledge is articulated through the views of these women activists in light of their
experiences in everyday as well as organisational contexts.

Background to study
How important is the issue of the environment?
The Australian environmental movement, in particular the Climate-
Sustainability movement, is a topic of intellectual significance in relation to the
numerous professional and grassroots advocacy organisations advocating social
change and environmental justice. Markedly, the social and natural world is in a dire
state due to human induced climate changes as well as natural and man-made
disasters that have catastrophic impacts on human and nonhuman species (Caldicott
1996, 2006, 2009; Healey 2009a & b; Isla 2009; Spitzner 2009; Irwin 2010). In
Australia, wild bushfires, extreme temperatures, flood epidemics and cyclones,
indicate that human beings are vulnerable yet also responsible for their immediate
environment (Shiva 1993, 2005, 2008; Maleta 2009; Spratt & Sutton 2009). Such
incidents occur globally, and ‘we’ hu(mans) are located in an advantageous position
to respond to it. A global to local activist engagement is therefore required. As an
academic environmental activist, I endeavour to identify the gendered and
environmentalist experiences of participants within everyday life contexts, and to
consider what is being addressed and what is yet to be addressed.

Why is gender relevant to this debate?
Women around the world play a strong leadership role within the politics of
gender and the environment, especially in grassroots action groups (Warren 1999;
MacGregor 2001; Glazebrook 2005; Alston 2011). However, research and policies
indicate gender gaps (MacGregor 2010, 2014). Surveys show that women and men
perceive social and environmental risks differently, and that women are
disproportionately under-represented in executive leadership positions (Spitzner
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2009:218-19). For example, women view market-based international climate policies
less positively than men. Spitzner notes that women are under-represented in all
political and economic decision-making bodies (2009:220). Research shows that
decisions in the policy arena are designed in a totally man-made way (Spitzner
2009:223).
For example, Spitzner contends that the UN Climate Change Convention and
the Kyoto Protocol make no reference to international agreements on social justice
and the empowerment of women (2009: 220). Within glocal contexts, women are
under-represented in all political and economic decision-making bodies (Spitzner
2009: 220). The corporate sector ‘directed largely by suited men in the global North
and their followers in the global South, spend billions on public moneys on
‘cooperation’ and on public relations, mystifying politicians and communities alike
as to the science of climate change’ (Spitzner 2009: 225). Spitzner argues that
policies must recognise gender as a structural hierarchy and acknowledge the
differing situations of women and men- their needs, opportunities and goals (2009:
225). Further, a monitoring system is needed at national and international levels to
ensure a universal integration of the gender perspective (Spitzner 2009:226).

Addressing gender gaps in climate policy and everyday life
In regard to gender gaps, the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment report on
Climate Change identified the gendered aspects of vulnerability and adaptive
capacity. Empirical research has shown that experiences of climate change are
experienced differently along the lines of age, ethnicity, class, religion and gender
(Cutter 1995; Denton 2002; Enarson 2002; cited in Climate Change 2007, IPCC
Fourth Assessment report). Climate change therefore has gender-specific
implications in terms of vulnerability and adaptive capacity (Dankelman 2002).
Gender differences reflect wider patterns of structural gender inequality. This
suggests that women are worse off than men in relation to being able to cope
effectively in their domestic environs when a climate-related disaster occurs.
However, a prospective shift in policy towards more proactive capacity building can
help reduce inequality (Climate Change 2007, IPCC Fourth Assessment report). Yet,
I contend that glocal climate policy is male-centric, whereby women, the poor and
ethnic minorities are marginalised. Hence, a gender differentiated responsibility is
yet to be realised.
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Leading international organisational bodies that aim to address gender
inequality as well as climate reforms are GenderCC, Global Gender and Climate
Alliance (GGCA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). These organisations
include salaried and voluntary women members advocating gender and
environmental justice. For example, GenderCC is a climate justice global network of
women activists and experts working for gender and climate justice. GenderCC
adheres to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) (GenderCC homepage, 2013). The GGCA aims to integrate a gender
perspective into policy and decision-making to ensure international mandates and
legal instruments on gender equality are implemented (GGCA homepage, 2013). In
addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) provides a framework to strengthen
support to Member States in developing health risk assessments and climate policy
interventions that are beneficial to women (WHO, Gender, 2013). Overarching
organisational bodies, like GenderCC and WHO, play a significant role in addressing
policy reforms on gender and climate issues in diverse glocal contexts.

A personal account of environmental activism
This project is strengthened by my grassroots and professional activism in the
environmental movement. I am a member of grassroots and professional
environmental organisations. Academic organisational membership includes the
Environmental Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ), Ecology Society of
Australia (ESA) and the Sustainability Collective at the University of Western
Sydney. Ecofeminist organisation membership includes 1 Million Women network
and the Women Environmental Network of Australia (WENA). Grassroots
organisation membership includes Parramatta Climate Change Action Network
(CAN) and Climate Action Network Australia (CANA), of which ParraCAN is
affiliated. As a ParraCAN volunteer, campaigns include lobbying the government
and educating the community to take action on climate change. Notably, I adopt a
peaceful approach in my climate change activism.

Research context
My previous research with Australian women voluntary rural firefighters
identified their agency and competency through a coordinated strategy of teamwork,