The answer is YES, there’s still a difference. It is true that the world has changed a lot since the first wave of feminism, where women sought access to equal education, the right to vote, as well as physical and financial independence. However, there is still a long way to go to achieve true gender equality. A familiar example of this is that – even in the middle of 2022 – there is still a significant wage gap between men and women. In Germany, the difference is 18% and in Europe, it is 13%. Another example of this is the lack of representation in government institutions: the European Parliament is currently made up with only 39.2% women, which is the historical maximum.

Nor should we forget to mention our sisters from the global south and other parts of the world who are currently fighting against a system that neglects justice. These women are redesigning the current legal instruments to counter gender violence. In several states, they have achieved the right to legal, accessible and free abortion. They are seeking to modify the education system to include integral sexual education. We also must recognize the efforts of our ecofeminist sisters who organize, give their time, will, body and life to defend natural resources against large exploitative companies. In this context, it is clear that gender-based abuse is also observed across the environmental scheme during the use, management and/or protection of nature. This shows that being a woman in different social contexts represents different challenges and inequalities.

“Que tú privilegio no nuble tu empatía”

“That your privilege doesn’t cloud your empathy “

Furthermore, Climate Change is a phenomenon that increases inequality and endangers women’s lives. First of all, the climate crisis does not affect everyone in the same way. Women and minorities are the most affected, as in many cases they are responsible for managing, administering and protecting household resources, such as collecting water, caring for backyard gardens to feed their families, managing the wood from their forests, etc. All these activities depend on climatic health, so climate change threatens their livelihoods and leaves them in a vulnerable position. Moreover, structural inequality limits the capacities of communities to adapt to the effects of climate change, which again makes them more vulnerable.

Considering all that has been mentioned, it is important to analyze gender inequality and its relation to the climate crisis through the lens of intersectionality. In this way, we can include the systemic inequalities that are configured from the overlapping of different social factors such as gender, ethnicity and social class. All the situations of violence and inequality faced by women show that being a woman in this society is clearly a disadvantage. A major question arises: if we are aware of the inequality, why does it still exist?

Our current conditions are a response to a historical truth: we live under a patriarchal system. But what do we mean when we talk about patriarchy? Patriarchy is an unequal hierarchical system, which attributes characteristics, roles, status and behavior to each sex based on their gender. It divides women from men based on a supposed female inferiority, giving men the dominant power. According to Kate Millet, patriarchy is a “system of male domination that facilitates the oppression and subordination of women”.

This same relationship of domination and subjugation experienced by feminized bodies is replicated with nature. Both have been objectified and used as a territory of conquest, as objects of exploitation, and are victims of violence. Nature and women are to a large extent victims of the externalities of economic development.

Currently, we live under an economic system that subjugates territories and nature in favor of a supposed economic development based on accumulated production and consumption. Moreover, this economic system is controlled by invisible forces, under the misguided idea of infinite growth and the fantasy of individuality on a planet with limited resources. Therefore, we can say that the climate crisis and gender inequality have patriarchal roots and are partly the result of supremacist capitalism.

Adriana Guzman, an anti-patriarchal community feminist from Bolivia, goes further and refers to patriarchy as “the system of all oppressions, all discriminations and all violence that humanity and nature historically built on women’s bodies”, therefore she considers that all oppressions, such as the exploitation generated by capitalism, are learned directly in women’s bodies.

The relationship of violence and harm against feminized bodies and the environment comes from the same systemic mechanisms. Therefore, we can state that achieving gender equity means ending the patriarchal capitalist system, which means we need a complete deconstruction of social schemes under a scheme of domination. It also means that we should have inclusion of a diversity of ideas and worldviews with which we could build a better reality for society.

It must be noted that, nowadays the same factors, actors and systems that caused the climate crisis are the ones that pretend to look for solutions. Other voices and ideas are ignored, which creates a lack of representativity and stops the development of holistic, integral and effective solutions. Similarly, it is not possible to reach comprehensive goals and solutions to the climate crisis if we do not address our colonial past and the remnants of post-colonialism, as well as the methods of exploitation of territories. Therefore, the ecological and feminist dimensions are essential to transform the conception and management of territories and of planet earth.

Likewise, being aware that patriarchy exists and that it is a structural problem is only the first step in eradicating it. Marilyn Fyre argues that the power of domination exercised by men has been internalized in society for so long that it will be difficult to break it. This system takes shape in everyday life; what may seem normal and correct does not always follow ethical principles. This can be seen in subtle attitudes like mansplaining to situations that threaten our lives such as domestic violence and femicide. For that reason, it is necessary to question our reality and try to reach awareness about the behaviour, rules and norms in our society. A feminist perspective should be included in the government agendas, discussed in the school and universities and must be recognized part of the climate change solutions.

However, patriarchy still shapes our lives. We must not forget that women have to achieve several improvements to make the world more equal. Our current conditions are the result of the strength of our feminist collectives and women ancestors who were labelled as witches or madwomen while being doctors, philosophers, leaders and fighters for rights. They were women who, with the right conditions, managed to change the social structure little by little. Moreover, women collectives and leaders are still fighting to break the system that was designed for favoured men. We are now looking to end inequality and create a new society where the dominant and abusive relationships between the people and nature are broken. There’s still too much to do, but we will be able to shape a new reality.

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The plastic problem

Plastic pollution is one of the most pressing environmental issues that many countries struggle with worldwide. During the last decade, the detrimental effects of plastics on the environment and human health have been extensively researched. Experts all agree that plastic is harmful to humans and it takes over 1000 years to decay, degrading into microplastics and accumulating in ecosystems.

Microplastics are particularly persistent in the environment and hard to capture and recycle. It is important to note that they are not just a result of the breakdown of bigger plastic pieces, but are also produced, for instance, by cosmetic firms to be included in a range of cosmetic products. Hence, after usage of these products the microplastics get washed down the drain, move through the wastewater treatment system, and end up in rivers and oceans. Once released into aquatic ecosystems, the tiny plastic particles are taken up via the food chain and accumulate in the higher trophic levels, in a process known as bioaccumulation. Moreover, microplastics can accrue in the soil, affecting plant growth and soil biota.

The problem with bioaccumulation of plastics are specific properties that have been proven to affect the endocrine system of mammals. By binding to hormone receptors, ingested plastic will result in a downstream cellular effect, leading to developmental changes. Fish have been known to feminize, resulting in detrimental effects on the ecosystem and harming multiple relationship chains established throughout the systems.

Humans ingest plastics through food, handling receipts and drinking from plastic water bottles. This problem has been analysed by researchers at the University of Bayreuth, who in a recent study have detected various types of microplastics in mussels obtained from supermarkets. With microplastics present in food obtained from the supermarket, it seems impossible for us to avoid it in our daily lives. This illustrates how careless actions stemming from short-term convenience not only devastate long-established ecosystem dynamics, but also end up affecting us humans for decades to come.     

Besides the effects of microplastic, the plastic litter in form of bigger pieces, called macroplastic, has a wide range of implications on the environment and ecosystems as well. These include entanglement, ingestion, and suffocation for organisms in marine and terrestrial environments.

Plastic usage in times of the Covid-19 pandemic

As the plastic pollution problem has been reported more and more in the media, the resulting rise in awareness of the effects of plastic usage on the environment greatly impacted governmental decision-making. New laws and specific legislation concerning plastic production and consumption were established. Several countries, including the EU and some U.S. States, started banning or were planning to ban single-use plastics, such as straws, cups and shopping bags, as well as the production of microbeads, which are commonly used in cosmetic products such as face scrubs and soaps. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has drastically affected the global efforts of tackling the plastic problem.

The pandemic has led to an arms race for personal protective equipment (PPE) all over the world. With an increase in both medical equipment such as facemasks, gloves and other protective clothing, as well as single-use plastics from food packaging, home-delivery services and e-commerce, the production and consumption of plastic immensely rose. Commitment to wear a mask has drastically increased the production of one-off masks and the resulting littering. It is estimated that there is a monthly need for 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves to contain the spread of the virus on a global scale. A large part of these can now be found as rubbish on the pavement or at the side of the road. In combination with other medical equipment, the resulting waste in the medical sector alone has increased to up to 370%.  

Social trends amplifying this problem include a growth in the throw away culture and online shopping, as well as the increased demand for food delivery and take-away packaging. This is a direct result of the fear-driven perceptions of hygienic and recycled products, as well as the Covid-19 associated sanitary concerns. Estimations predict a 14% increase in plastic and corrugated grocery packaging in the U.S., while reports from a Spanish plastic packaging company show a sales increase of 40%. Additionally, the low oil prices caused by the crisis have reduced the competitiveness of recycled plastics, leading to an increased usage of virgin plastics.

Due to the growing demand for plastic, there has been a temporary relaxation on the policies banning or reducing single-use plastics in many places around the world, including several U.S. States. This reversal or delay of policies relevant for the reduction in global plastic use will result in plastic industry lobbyists taking advantage of the situation, making future implementation of similar guidelines and laws very difficult. It is therefore important to address the fear-driven perceptions against the hygiene of reused and recycled products now, during as well as after the pandemic. It is important to increase people’s trust in packaging-free products and sustainable alternatives to prevent a lasting return of the throwaway culture and thus a resurgence in the use of single-use plastic. An overarching message here is the importance of continuing to move forward with a total system overhaul to make using reusables a safe and convenient option despite the pandemic.  

Waste management in times of the Covid-19 pandemic

Coming back to the example of our campus: The university was quick to respond to the littering problem by putting up more bins, specifically for plastic recycling. However, the increasing plastic waste remains an issue and the pandemic has negatively impacted the recycling sector as well.

In some countries, like Portugal, the government recommended not to recycle any possibly contaminated household waste and in Italy infected people were asked not to sort their waste at all. In the U.S. the recycling capacity was significantly lowered by recycling companies closing due to decreased demand from the industry, low oil prices favouring the use of virgin plastic over recycled plastic and fear of spreading the virus via recycled materials. In other countries, like the Netherlands, there was a backlog of recycling waste due to disruption in logistics.

Therefore, the motioned changes in the usage of plastics have implications for global waste management. The fact that already before the pandemic over two billion people lacked access to waste collection and over three billion people lacked access to waste disposal amplifies the current situation during the crisis.

As the failure to properly manage the waste generated from health facilities and households may escalate the spread of Covid-19 via secondary transmission, the virus creates additional challenges in waste management, including waste management practices and both environmental and global issues. These effects, including future solutions, are illustrated in the infographic shown here:

Conclusion

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a severe increase in the usage and disposal of single use plastic products. Some countries waste management facilities can not cope with the resulting amounts of waste, which consequently means an improper treatment of the surplus plastic waste. In combination with littering of PPE and other single use plastic products this will result in an increased plastic pollution in the environment, where it will persist for decades and negatively impact ecosystems. Since the pandemic has been going on for over a year and an end is not in sight yet, it is important to take notice of this issue and find ways to reduce our plastic consumption whilst keeping to current hygiene regulations.

References:

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