Vegetarian Eco-Feminism: An Intersectional

Analysis
Political Theory and Ecology

Submitted by: Dhruv Chopra

I.D. No.:2463

Date of Submission: 29 September 2022

 Introduction
The concept of animal liberation has been a debatable issue amongst Eco-Feminist scholars
where some have chosen to avoid passing any comment on the issue. In contrast, others have
emphasised that speciesism- the oppression of non-human animals, is implicit in an Eco-
Feminist analysis. The branch of Eco-Feminist scholars that have chosen to discuss the issues
of animal liberation explicitly have further linked the same with the oppressive structures of
class, race, color, as well as gender that exist in the society.
Vegetarian Eco-Feminists questions and evaluates our dietary choices and how the same
impacts other animals. It draws analogies between how women, people of color are oppressed
and how animals are hunted. However, this theory cannot be borrowed and applied in the
Indian context. Several factors influence the discrimination women in the rural areas have to
face. Therefore, it becomes necessary for an intersectional Vegetarian Eco-Feminist theory to
be devised that is suitable for application in India.
In the first part of the paper, the researcher has discussed how the development of Vegetarian
Eco-Feminism theory has taken place since its inception and the multiplicity of ways it can
be used to analyse different activities of humankind. In the following section, the researcher
has focused primarily on how an intersectional Eco-Feminist theory could be developed
which better addresses and provides more advantageous solutions to the issues that women
experience throughout their lives.
Exploring the roots of vegetarian ecofeminism
The branch of Vegetarian Eco-Feminism had spread widely through the works of academics
and activists like Lynda Birke, Ronnie Hawkins, Carol Adams and Jim Mason. Two initial
essays were published in the late 20th century that discussed the themes of the liberation of
animals while addressing issues of animal sacrifice and hunting.
The Sympathetic Nature of Man
A large majority of people, not born into a vegetarian family or culture, decide to become a
vegetarian, mostly due to the sympathy they feel towards other animals that are killed for our
purposes. For instance, in the laboratories of the United States, 40-70 million animals are
killed annually. For factory farming operations, around sixteen million animals are made to
suffer and left to die each day. The dairy industry in the U.S is one of the cruellest industries
when it comes to their treatment of other animals as they isolate the new-born calves in a
steel cage where they are only months away from getting slaughtered, while the milk of the
dairy cows that was supposed to be the right of the offspring’s is sold for human
consumption. Further, pigs are tied upside down for days; chickens are debeaked; some
animals have removed parts of their brains.1
The fundamental difference between a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian is the dietary choice.
A vegetarian is one who is capable of empathising with other animals and can differentiate
his dietary choices from a non-vegetarian person. Further, Vegetarian Eco-Feminists argue
that only by preventing the feeling of sympathy towards other animals are human beings
capable of overlooking the enormous issue that animal cruelty has become.
Even before the animal rights theories became prevalent; people compassionate about
animals spoke out in favour of animals, denouncing the exploitation of their bodies for
scientific research, and food production in addition to making of use of animal skin for
clothing. It was argued that it should be the general characteristic of a human to stand for the
rights as well as the well-being of animals and not an abnormal characteristic that exists in a
slight majority of people.
The themes around suppressing such sympathetic feelings have been largely explored in
several essays that discuss how a sense of human supremacy replaces such feelings through
propaganda spread by animal and scientific research institutions. Men and women who have
been exposed to such propaganda in their early childhood are more likely to grow up to
become non-vegetarians. Hence, Eco-Feminists argue that it is essential that children are

1
Brian Luke, Exploring the Boundaries: Feminism, Animals, and Science, Duke University Press (1995)
educated about the origins of the animal products that they are consuming at an early stage in
their childhood.2
Vegetarian Eco-Feminists aim to break social barriers constructed around the feelings of
sympathy between two different species of animals. They have had success to a large extent,
for instance, women are able to sympathise with animals who have been denied rights over
their bodies; people of color, women, the LGBTQ community can sympathise with animals
hunted as they might have had similar experiences of being seen as “prey”. 3 Of course, it is
not being said here that any human can, in the fullest sense, understand the experiences and
feelings of animals that are isolated and made to suffer. However, as had been theorised by
Enlightenment philosophers such as Adam Smith and David Hume, this very ability and
innate sense to sympathise with others forms the foundation for moral awareness that humans
possess.4
The ability to sympathise further revolves around our societal and political contexts. In a
society that teaches us to repress or deny our emotions, it becomes much easier to distance
ourselves from the suffering of others thereby making them invisible. It is not easy to break
through such political and societal influences around us but before submitting to such
mechanisms, Vegetarian Eco-Feminists argue that one should sympathise with other
animals.5
Liberation of Animals
The present day theory of animal liberation and activism is based on two texts written by
Peter Singer and Tom Regan.6 Singer has argued that other animals are capable of suffering
and enjoyment; therefore, their rights and interests should be as worthy of consideration as
any other being. Further, by bringing forth the concept of speciesism, he has argued that
humans have continuously discriminated against other species. In other words, Singer bases
his argument in favour of animal rights on the ability to experience different feelings of other
animals.7
On the other hand, Tom Regan finds the roots of his argument in favour of animal rights in
the moral ability of human species to reason and be rational. He argues that if it is morally
correct for humans to treat other animals from the same species as ends in themselves and not
2
Greta Gaard, Vegetarian Ecofeminism: A Review Essay, Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 23(2),(2002)
3
See (n1)
4
Samuel Fleischacker, Adam Smith’s Moral and Political Philosophy, The Stanford Encyclopaedia of
Philosophy, (2020) (available at < https://plato.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia/archinfo.cgi?entry=smith-
moral-political>)
5
See (n1)
6
Animal Liberation by Peter Singer & The Case for Animal Rights by Tom Regan.
7
Peter Singer, Animal Liberation, Harper Collins Publications (1975)
merely means then why is this reasoning of being rational and moral not being extended to
animals from other species as well.8 In other words, Regan wants us to put humans in place of
other animals that are being subjected to morally unacceptable practices and conditions.
Peter Singer and Tom Regan might have used different reasoning and approaches but reached
similar conclusions. They conclude that it should be morally unacceptable to us to let other
animals be subjected to such morally unacceptable acts to which we would not make others
humans subject. We allow other animals to be subjected to such inhuman conditions because
of the extensive prevalence of speciesist thought in the human species.
A large majority of Vegetarian Eco-Feminists, while critiquing the texts of Singer and Regan
for absence of the combination of sympathy and a reasoned analysis of the relevant political
and societal contexts, build on their theories and provide a better reasoning for adopting their
theory. They argue that a large portion of the nutrition of food is wasted as we are eating low
on the food chain. By directly consuming the grain being first fed to cattle, we can increase
the intake of nutrients present in grain. Further, a larger population would be fed by directly
consuming grain.
Contemporary Vegetarian Eco-Feminists find further reasoning for adopting their theory in
the adverse effects of meat consumption on human health. A meat-based diet increases the
risks of a large variety of diseases in the modern world such as different types of cancer,
abnormal heart conditions and high-blood pressure.
Different parts and organs of the human body such as teeth and the intestines are designed to
make it easier for us to consume a plant-based diet. Our teeth have a small number of canines
compared to flat molars, which make tearing flesh easier, while carnivores have more
canines. Similarly, the intestines of carnivores are considerably smaller in length as compared
to humans making them well suited for extracting nutrients from meat.
Feminism
Charlotte Gilman, Start Ward, Frances Willard are some of the first-wave radical cultural
feminists who have largely advocated for either vegetarianism or the welfare of non-human
animals. Largely, their arguments were based on the ability of humans to sympathise with
non-human animals. Second-wave radical cultural feminists such as Carol Adams, Aviva
Cantor pointed out the likeness in the way women are oppressed in the society i.e. sexism; in
the way animals are oppressed by humans, i.e. speciesism; and the oppression of people of
color i.e. racism.9 Aviva Cantor, for instance, often points to the linguistic (and thus
conceptual) link- age of women and animals in such derogatory terms for women as "bitch,"
8
Tom Regan, The Case for Animal Rights, Wellbeing International (1986)
"pussy," "chick," and "cow".10 Thus, it is clear that from its very inception, Vegetarian Eco-
Feminists have recognised the similarities in the oppression of women, animals and people of
color.
In the 1970s, there was a rise in the lesbian feminists turning vegetarian and the same was
done as meat eating was starting to be equated with patriarchal domination. Among such
feminists, the works by Elizabeth Davis and Carol Adams stand out, being the fundamental
texts to be written in this context.11 Lesbian Eco-Feminists point to the link that exists
between meat-eating and male violence and further advocate for a plant-based diet as meat-
eating is wrong for its cruelty to non-human animals that can feel and experience pain.
Spiritual and radical feminists have exposed the connections that exist between women and
animals that predate patriarchal history: in the art and sculpture of most ancient cultures, as
well as ancient Hindu culture, animals and women are shown together as being divine
creatures and a plethora of cycles of the Earth are associated with women’s fertility. 12 With
the rise of patriarchal culture, women had to be demonised in order for their displacement to
be justified and therefore, it can be observed in religious books such as the Book of Genesis,
the Fall of Man is blamed on a woman, a tree and an animal. It is this very culturally
constructed closeness of women, animals and people of color as well as their “supposed lack
of reason” that has led to them being continuously subordinated for the past hundreds of
years.
Just as ecofeminism was born to correct the lacunas that exist in feminist theories, Vegetarian
Eco-Feminism began its conceptual work as a response to the inadequacies of ecofeminist
theory. Vegetarian Eco-Feminists have adequately utilised a plethora of feminist structural
analyses to demonstrate that speciesism is integral to both feminist and ecofeminist theories.
They have argued that speciesism is a form of oppression that is inter-linked with and
reinforces other forms of oppression such as racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, and the
destruction of the natural world. Excluding the oppression of nonhuman animals from
feminist and ecofeminist analyses can only give us analyses that are, at best, incomplete.

How can Vegetarian Eco-Feminism be applied

Vegetarian Eco-Feminists have largely contributed to the way issues relating to hunting as
well as discrimination on the basis of color, and caste are looked at. Though the lessons from
9
Greta Gaard, Ecofeminism Revisited: Rejecting Essentialism and Re-Placing Species in a Material Feminist
Environmentalism, Feminist Formations, 23(2),(2011)
10
Aviva Cantor, Spacegoats: Jews, Animals and Oppression, La Rassegna Mensile di Israel,78(1/2),(2012)
11
The First Sex by Elizabeth Davis & The Oedible Complex by Carol Adams.
12
Andree Collard, Rape of the Wild: Man’s Violence Against Animals and the Earth, Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, (1989)
Vegetarian Eco-Feminist theory can be used as an analytical tool for a plethora of issues, the
researcher has limited his analysis to a handful of issues which have been discussed in the
present section.
The most thorough Vegetarian Eco-Feminist critique of hunting is found in Marti Kheel's
work, which divides North American hunters into six categories depending on the
explanations used to explain or justify animal hunting. Prior to the emergence of the
environmental movement, animal hunters largely presented three types of justifications: the
"hired hunter," who murdered animals for monetary benefit; the "hungry hunter," who killed
for food; and the "hostile hunter," who killed to eradicate "villainous" animals. Further, in his
analysis, he also narrows down to another category of hunters, i.e. the “holy hunter” who
hunt in order to be closer to their version of God or simply for spiritual purposes. Such
justifications have been borrowed from older native cultures. Moreover, this shows how
people in the Western nations, borrow from native cultures to justify their evil actions as per
their needs.13
Brian Luke has also investigated the topic of contemporary hunting among European-
American men, exposing the moral conundrums and eroticisation of hunting. According to
Luke's interpretation of the "Hunter’s Ethics," many of its tenets actually call for respect for
animal life, and the prohibitions imply that the code in its entirety condemns hunting. He
acknowledges that the majority of hunters attempt to defend their actions by claiming that
nature is hostile, but he counters that there are times when it is also serene and harmonious.
According to him, it is ludicrous to suppose that if some slaughter happens organically
without our help, we should join in and add to it. 14 Luke highlights the numerous instances of
cross-talk between hunting and heterosexuality that demonstrate how both institutions
eroticise power disparities and a predatory sexuality between men and women. The
eroticisation of dominance is further supported by power imbalances based on ethnic
differences. He goes on to further argue that photographs of women wearing animal-print
bikinis that depict species men kill and collect such as leopard, tiger, cheetah etc., posed in
natural settings that combine water, sand, animals, and butterflies, and markets in countries
such as Africa as alluring vacation destinations, places that cater to white men's desires to
shoot exotic wild animals.
Vegetarian Eco-Feminists have also shown the links between racism, sexism, and speciesism
by researching challenges of population and reproduction control as well as the power
13
Rachel Fernflores, Review of Marti Kheel’s Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective, Between the
Species,10, (2010)
14
Brian Luke, A Critical Analysis of Hunter’s Ethics, Environmental Ethics, 19(1), (1997)
dynamics involved in scientific testing. Both Eco-Feminists and Vegetarian Eco-Feminists
have criticised the use of population policy and technology to oppress women of colour, poor
women, and rural women both at home and abroad. In contrast to the Third World, where
reproductive technologies are geared toward controlling the fertility of poor women and
women of colour, safe and effective reproductive technologies are easily accessible to
manage or enhance the fertility of wealthy, white, and First-World women. The
overproduction of eggs and the confinement of hens, as well as the excessive production of
milk in factory-farmed cows and recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), have all
been used as instances of how the reproduction of female factory animals is regulated by
Vegetarian Eco-Feminists.

Eco-Feminism and Intersectionality in India

The most fundamental work in the field of Indian Eco-Feminism has been authored by the
well-known activist, academic and scholar Vandana Shiva. 15 In her work, she argues that
Indian Eco-Feminism and the contribution of women towards environmental causes can be
dated back to the 1970s, where 300 women sacrificed their lives in order to protect the
"khejri” tress. Further, Shiva, unlike her Western counterparts makes the claim that
relationship of human beings with environment should be seen as an idea of unity, and not a
dichotomy. This idea she believes enables us to look at environment with an ‘ethic of care’
and specifically the relationship between women and nature as a biologically necessary one.
Women belonging to the Southern part of the World have a distinct relationship with nature.
This has occurred following their attempts to preserve the resources that the nature has
provided them. Further, women because of their roles as producers both in the reproductive
and social scenarios are better at understanding how technology has ransacked the Earth of its
natural resources.16
The work of Vandana Shiva can be critiqued as being essentialist. She fails to take into
account how the patriarchal structures within Hinduism as well the oppressive caste system
contribute to the relationship of women with the nature. Further, her theory romanticises the
role of women and their relationship with the environment which in turn contributes to
strengthening of gendered stereotypes while simultaneously preventing the development of a
mutually beneficial dialogue. In addition to these, in another manner Shiva’s work can be
critiqued: she disregards a large majority of women and focuses only on a small minority
who benefit from her work.
15
Vandana Shiva, Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India, North Atlantic Books, (1988)
16
Ibid
Building upon the foundations provided by Vandana Shiva, another scholar, Bina Aggarwal,
comes up with an intersectional Eco-Feminist theory.17 Agarwal, takes into account the
influence that the various structures of class, caste and gender have on society while
providing a theory that relates women with the environment. She argues that the relationship
that women with the environment and how great of an interest they take in conserving the
natural resources that nature provides them is liable to change depending upon the structures
of caste, class and gender that pervade the society. In other words, she rejects Vandana
Shiva’s theory of the relationship between women and environment being based entirely on
biological connection.
The division of labour and resources has a substantial impact on gender discrepancies in
perspectives on environmental protection, especially in rural areas. Due to their greater access
to natural and local resources and further because of their reliance on nature for both their
sustenance and survival, rural women are more likely to take an active role in preserving the
environment. Therefore, Aggarwal believes that it becomes essential for any Eco-Feminist
scholar to take into account the elements of caste, gender as well as culture while making
observations about the relationship of women with the nature.
Attempts to romanticise the relationship between women and nature fall into a trap that
makes one blind to the myriad ways in which the concept of "womanhood" is implicated in
the on-going limitations and exploitation experienced by women and the natural environment.
This trap is set by first generalising the experience of "one kind of woman" and then
appealing to some essential "essence" or necessary connection. Further, because of man’s
disconnection from the natural world, women are perceived as being closer to the
environment than men, despite the truth being that women are just as much a part of the
nature as rest of the humankind. Moreover, it largely appears that men must completely
distance themselves from this truth in order to achieve manhood.
Largely, the concerns of Eco-Feminist theories revolve around improving the conditions of
women. In the next section of the paper, I would like to shed light upon how an intersectional
Eco-Feminist theory can improve the conditions of women with regards the specific issue of
menstrual hygiene of women in rural areas.
Menstrual Hygiene of Women in Rural India
Vegetarian Eco-Feminist research cannot be carried out successfully by focusing primarily on
the socially constructed category of gender because doing so does not reflect the enormous
number of interconnected factors that influence the outcomes or demonstrate sensitivity to the
17
Bina Aggarwal, The Gender and Environment Debate: Lessons from India, Feminist Studies, 18(1), (1992)
potential complexity of the issues involved. By concentrating only on gender, academics will
be severely limited in their ability to analyse events and offer insightful criticism on the
different kinds of oppression that both women and nature endure. Such Vegetarian Eco-
Feminist analysis will be severely constrained if it ignores other aspects including caste,
class, race, religion, and sexual orientation. In India, the caste system would have a greater
impact on rural, Dalit, and tribal women's subordination than the influence that is exerted by
gender.
Therefore, I believe that the identification of gender can no longer be the only analytic tool
that is used while analysing the intricacies that are involved in the lives led by women in rural
India. Further, while conducting research on this subject, I found that less than 4% of the
articles published in the major social science journals were related to issues relating to
gender.
If Vegetarian Eco-Feminism is to be useful in analysing major women issues in the rural
parts of India, intersectionality and the impact of "other" factors like caste must be taken
seriously. In particular, considering that Eco-Feminist research, at least up until this moment,
has not thoroughly examined the connection between Dalits and environmentalism, a detailed
investigation of these multileveled points of intersection utilising intersectionality as an
analytical tool would lead to a more convincing (and thorough) understanding of the twin
dominations of women and nature. Further, intersectionality encourages a comprehensive
approach to topics like women's equality in education and menstrual hygiene in rural areas, as
well as concerns like climate change, rights relating to land, women's empowerment, and
tribal movements when conducting Eco-Feminist analysis.
Menstrual hygiene is an excellent illustration of an issue that has many links to environmental
injustice, especially given that it was overlooked as a requirement for attaining a number of
Millennium Development Goals such as Millennium Development Goal 7. 18 Without first
addressing the environmental injustices brought on by a lack of continued attention to
menstrual hygiene management, such goals set out to ensure further progress of the
developing countries, cannot be achieved.
Governments, prominent personalities, and non-profit organisations must ensure that women
have access to sanitary facilities that are safe and hygienic, adequate sanitary protection, and
—especially crucial in this case—a suitable and environmentally responsible method of
waste disposal if they are to address these "injustices." Daily menstrual hygiene difficulties
may occasionally have less to do with gender and more to do with class, religion, race, and
18
This particular goal gives attention and support to sustainable development.
caste. A female university professor in the city will lead a totally different existence than a
female subsistence farmer in rural India. The differences in the experiences are a product of
the different upbringing, class and culture and the latter would have faced more issues
relating to maintaining healthy menstrual hygiene.19
Several rural parts of India experience environmental issues relating to their regional natural
habitats, at least in part, due to the inadequate infrastructure for managing menstruation
management. Issues include everything from local water system contamination brought on by
the contribution of the disposal of sanitary waste to air pollution caused by the burning of
garbage in an improper and in a way that harms nature. The use of an intersectional analytical
framework would aid academics in comprehending the diverse effects that caste, religion, and
class have on the outcomes of this problem. Any analysis that singles out one component,
such as gender, as a prominent form of oppression drastically restricts our knowledge of the
many intersecting factors that affect menstrual hygiene and its effects on the environment
(and the source of those environmental injustices relating to menstrual hygiene and
management). If one wants to make meaningful theoretical statements with application, one
must be careful to avoid dissecting the "female perspective" and instead strive towards
critically engaging with the unique and individual experiences of women or groups of
women.
It is possible to address these environmental injustices by adopting an intersectional strategy
and developing a thorough understanding of society that examines the complex intersections
that result in them, such as those described in this study. An effective, community-led,
grassroots project that takes into consideration the diversity of elements influencing the
actions of the players involved will have a significantly greater likelihood of success than a
non-intersectional and top-down strategy. In spite of their poor success rates, Procter and
Gamble committed a considerable amount of money (Rs.5 Crore) to enabling girls in India to
have access to Western-style sanitary protection.20 The usefulness of contemporary tampons
and sanitary towels in tribal or rural populations with little exposure to the "outside world"
has been subjected to debate. By manufacturing environmentally friendly sanitary pads in
Uttar Pradesh, villagers have contributed to the expansion of the local economy. They are
composed of fabric and include wood ash as well, and as a result, they can be broken down

19
Yuval Davis, Intersectionality and Feminist Politics, European Journal of Women’s Studies, 13(3), (2006)
20
P&G to double coverage of menstruation hygiene programme by 2022, Press Trust of India, (2019) (available
at <https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/p-g-to-double-coverage-of-menstrual-hygiene-prog-
by-2022-119100401095_1.html > )
easily, which is essential in communities like those in Maharashtra if the sanitary waste is to
be successfully composted in the dedicated wells contained in many of the latrines there.21
Menstruation hygiene projects must be sensitive to local circumstances, particularly in light
of the environmental implications of simply adopting Western menstrual management
techniques. Projects must consider the significantly diverse needs and challenges of women
living in rural areas of the country and should not be focused only on gender but also on a
variety of other forms of oppression, such as caste and class. The achievement of the
Sustainable Development Goals of universal primary education, gender equality, and
environmental sustainability will depend, at least in part, on the ability of the political
"players'" to comprehend and effectively implement the infrastructure needed for women to
attend to their menstrual hygiene needs properly. These include the ability to dispose of waste
in an environmentally sound and secure manner, the presence of functional restrooms in
schools, and adequate sanitary protection.
There are more than 130,000 schools without working toilets in India alone, and another
70,000 have no running water. Women are disproportionately affected by this global "crisis"
in water and sanitation because they are systematically left out of discussions on these issues
even though they stand to lose the most. These existing shortcomings have significant effects
on women's and girls' capacity to participate in daily activities while menstruating, with many
girls being obliged to skip school while having their periods rather than risk embarrassing
their families.22 Other problems, such as the absence of bathrooms, running water, and
hygienic facilities, however, present themselves to girls who are "allowed" to attend school
while they are menstruating, which over time may adversely affect both their attendance and
academic performance. Given that they are unable to effectively meet their biological
demands due to a lack of such facilities, women are frequently at a severe disadvantage over
their male counterparts, specifically in rural Indian areas.
The utilisation of tampons and sanitary pads swiftly drops when the novelty wears off and
reality sets in, according to studies carried out in rural India. The consequences of having
subpar facilities are enormous. There is just no hygienic or ecologically responsible method
for disposing of used sanitary items, and with the absence of garbage collection, the only
alternatives for disposal are to burn, bury, or toss the waste away, which can result in
problems like clogged toilets and pollution of streams and other sources of water as well in
the surrounding areas.
21
A.E. Kings, Intersectionality and the Changing Face of Eco-Feminism, Ethics and the Environment, 22(1),
(2017)
22
Ibid
A Vegetarian Eco-Feminist theory, which solely takes into account gender as a significant
mode of oppression, severely restricts our understanding of the other myriad intersecting
factors that affect menstrual hygiene and its effects on the environment. Non-intersectional
research fails because it ignores these issues, despite the fact that daily stigmas against
women's menstrual hygiene typically have more to do with elements like class, religion, race,
and caste than they do with gender. An intersectional conceptual approach enables the
researcher to comprehend the various roles played by religion, caste, and class (among other
major elements) in the outcome of a wide range of issues that, in this case, harm women as
well as the environment. For instance, societal and cultural norms support "myths and taboos
which restrict women and girls' engagement in society" that is founded on the idea that
women are unclean, dirty, or impure in South Asia (particularly in the rural and tribal areas of
India). Religious practices also encourage such taboos.23 Restrictions on menstruating
adolescent females were found to be the most severe in rural tribal parts of India, where a
little below 90% of respondents reported being limited in what they may touch and just under
40% of girls were not even 'allowed' to leave the house alone  Further, a large majority of
girls lack access to functioning toilet facilities at home, and 70% of respondents indicated
they were required to take care of their monthly hygiene needs in a public place, typically
after dark to avoid being observed by anyone.24
The aspects of class and caste have been largely ignored in Eco-Feminist analysis that does
not use intersectionality as a technique to interact with various points of oppression. The
participation of Dalit, tribal, and rural women in political and environmental campaigns that
aim to build the infrastructure that will provide them more freedom is often disregarded. The
intersection of these several social identities leads to discrimination and a number of weak
spots, as discrimination is not merely a matter of class, gender, or ethnicity but the
intersection of all these factors.

23
Jyothi Justin & Nirmala Menon, Indian Intersectional Ecofeminism and Sustainability: A Study on
Mayilamma: The Life of a Tribal Eco Warrior and Jharkhand’s Save the Forest Movement, Journal of
Ecohumanism, 1(2), (2022)
24
Ibid
Conclusion and Possibilities for the Future
Vegetarian Eco-Feminism, which has its roots in the cultural movements for feminism and
animal freedom in the 1960s and 1970s, has led to the emergence of a more compassionate
society. Its evaluations and criticisms of its study indicate a variety of viable options for the
future. As Vegetarian Eco-Feminists investigate how speciesism applies across different
cultures, some will wish to forge or strengthen bonds with female environmental justice
advocates. However, only through peaceful dialogue between women from different social
settings can progress in the respective theories be achieved.
Due to the fact that Vegetarian Eco-Feminism is a dynamic scholarly and activist tradition, it
is impossible to adequately define it in a set of necessary and sufficient conditions. Since
intersectionality and Vegetarian Eco-Feminism are still developing concepts, they should not
be viewed as fixed modes of thought but rather as approaches and tools of analysis that are
constantly adapting to the changing political and environmental context in which they are
located.
Intersectional Vegetarian Eco-Feminism does not offer a flawless and fool-proof solution to
the issues of diversity. It does provide us with an opportunity to consider our assumptions and
epistemological stances prior to undertaking research while also considering how social
categories interact and mould one another. By putting an emphasis on intersectionality, we
may become more conscious of the ways that different forms of disadvantage can be
exploited to silence the most marginalised and oppressed people. We should not let the fact
that there are many important questions that have not yet been answered stop us from
advancing intersectional Vegetarian Eco-Feminism or from applying an intersectional
perspective to both our personal and professional lives.