Gender Identity Construction, Community Environmental Education and Ecofeminism: Untapped Interconnections

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue VII, July 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

Gender Identity Construction, Community Environmental Education and Ecofeminism: Untapped Interconnections

Dr Manuku Mukoni
Midlands State University Gender Institute, Gweru, Zimbabwe

Abstract:- Research literature on gender identity construction is replete with theories that have been proffered to study gender identities; however, there is a paucity of studies that focus on construction of gender identities in community environmental education as well as those that uses ecofeminism as a theoretical framework, despite its power to elicit the subjective enactment of gender identity. A conspicuous gap in literature this paper contributes to. This paper therefore advances the body of theory around the construction of gender identities, by announcing a point of departure with other identity theories pinning down on Karren Warren’s ecofeminist theory as a suitable theoretical framework for understanding the construction of gender identity.Borrowing examples from a study conducted in Zimbabwe between 2013 and 2016, the paper illustrates how this theory can be used to understand the construction of gender identities among women participants in community environmental education.

Key terms: Gender identity; community environmental education; ecofeminism.

Contribution/Originality

This paper makes two contributions to knowledge. First it advances the body of theory around the construction of gender identities by arguing that Karren Warren’s ecofeminist theory can be a suitable theoretical framework for understanding the construction of gender identities .Second, the paper introduces the concept of gender identity construction in environmental education that deals with the biophysical environment,an area treaded less by gender identity construction studies

I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

This paper is premised on two assumptions; first, it notes that though a legion of studies on construction of gender identities exists in many communities of practice. A succinct summary of these studies shows that much focus has been on the political, social and economic dimensions of environmental education such as health (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005, Grieg, Peacock and Msimang,2008, Bottorff,et al 2011,Naidu, Sliep and Dageid,2012), sport ( Connell, 2008, Knijnik,2015), workplace (Carrier, de Paduci, Diniz,deSouza and Menezes, 2013),

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