Eco-Feministic Concerns in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The Forest of Enchantments: A Study through the Character of Sita

Eco-feminism is the submerged branch of ecology and feminism that is based on the kinship of a woman and nature. Women’s association with nature is an age-old practice not only in our country, but everywhere in the world. Even early texts and discussions on eco-feminism talk about historical connections between women and nature. Though the modern eco-feminist movement started during late 1970s, it was actually strengthened in1980s with the series of conferences and workshops conducted in the United States by various academicians and professional women. Thus, eco-feminism emerged as a philosophical, political and academic movement that studies and discusses the process in which feminism and environmentalism are blended to promote respect for women and protection and preservation to nature, as both are lately and largely have been subject to oppression in entire world. In other words, it is all about drawing parallels between the systematic oppression of women and the degradation of nature, both of which result from male domination and society. The remark of Abdel Mohsen is quite appropriate in this regard: ‘The common thread among ecofeminists is that the patriarchal power in society oppresses both nature and women. This interconnection between the mistreatment of nature and the degradation of women is the core of eco-feminism.”1