Women in Environmental Nonviolent Action

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of women engaged in nonviolent environmental action, focusing on Australian women in recent decades. It complements the few existing publications which illuminate this area and casts light on the many women who have contributed enormously toward positive peace through creating more peaceful and environmentally sustainable societies, yet who have rarely been acknowledged due to patriarchal biases in the writing of history. Women have often played key roles at major turning points of nonviolent campaigns, as well as being leaders, central organizers, strategists, and artistic activists, in numerous Australian environmental movements, from the 1980s Franklin River blockade and anti-nuclear actions to 1990s forest blockades to contemporary climate activism, as well as performing vital functions as peacemakers. Many have since moved from environmental protest to constructive alternatives, such as landcare and permaculture.