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EVS NOTES for ICSE CLASS 10 On ROLE OF WOMEN IN COmmuniy

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Women & Environment Sustainability Dr. Mrs. Naresh Yadav "Women have a vital role in environmental management and development. Their full participation is therefore is essential to achieving sustainable development" If we talk of natural management from a global perspective, whom do we find in the forefront of the race for protection and preservation of the resources. The answer comes very naturally, it is the women. Women particularly those living in rural areas or mountain areas have special relationship with the environment. All women have relationship with environment but the approach is different from Urban Areas. They are more close to the nature than men and this very close relationship makes them perfect managers of an eco-system. The life of mountain women is so much intertwined with the environment that whole ecosystem revolves around her and she can't even think of her survival without it. For her forest is her mother's home as she is entirely dependent on the forest to meet her daily needs such as - water, fodder, fuels, minor forest product etc. Role of Women in Conservation of Environment More than 70% of the Indian population is rural based. Biomass plays a crucial role in meeting daily survival needs of the vast majority of the rural households. Water is essential for survival and its availability is related to biomass. The biomass-based subsistence economy is mostly non-monetized. Production and processing of biomass agriculture, forestry, minor forest produce and village crafts based on biomass as raw materials, are also the biggest sources of employment. Development imperatives have inevitably led to some destruction of the biomass through deforestation and environmental degradation. Traditionally, women have been responsible for subsistence and survival for water, food, fuel, fodder and habitat, though they rarely get the credit for nurturing these life support systems. Added to these environmental destruction, exacerbates women's problems in a way very difficult from that of men. The challenge is to re-establish the 1 symbiosis between communities, women and natural resources and reverse the trend of the negative impact of existing developmental paradigms. Women have always been the principal conservers of bio-diversity. Even today they perform duties such as seed selection, multiplication and conservation. The on-farm conservation traditions of rural and tribal women, with reference to agro-biodiversity are well known. Unfortunately, current food security systems depend on too few crops. It is important to expand the basis of food security by including large numbers of species and varieties of food plants still maintained by tribal and rural families. Traditionally, women have dealt with non-monetized biomass based subsistence economy of the household i.e. firewood, cow dung, crop wastes, organic manure, etc. In comparison men tend to destroy nature to earn cash even if it means creating hardship in their own families for their womenfolk to collect fuel and fodder e.g. sale of herbs and wood. The uphost is that women work as unpaid labourers on family farms with a greater role than men in operational decision making. The population pressure has increased male migration, which in turn adds to the women's work load. In effect this means that women's responsibilities extend from the household duties to working in the fields as well . In developing areas of the world, women are considered the primary users of natural resources (Land, Forest and water), because they are the ones who are responsible for gathering food, fuel and fodder. Although in these countries, women mostly can't own the land and farms outright, they are the ones who spend most of their time working on the farms to feed the household. Shouldering this responsibility leads them to learn more about soil, plants, and trees and not misuse them. Although, technological inputs increase male involvement with land, many of them leave the farm to go to cities to find jobs; so women become increasingly responsible for an increasing portion of farm tasks. These rural women tend to have a closer relationship with land and other natural resources, which promotes a new culture of respectful use and preservation of natural resources and the environment, ensuring that the following generations can meet their needs. Besides considering how to achieve appropriate agricultural production and human nutrition, women want to secure access to the land. Women's perspectives and values for the environment 2 are somewhat different than men's. Women give greater priority to protection of and improving the capacity of nature, maintaining farming lands, and caring for nature and environment's future. Repeated studies have shown that women have a stake in environment and this stake is reflected in the degree to which they care about natural resources. Ecofeminism refers to women's and feminist perspectives on the environment - where the domination an exploitation of women, of poorly resourced peoples and of nature is at the heart of the ecofeminist movement. Today, women struggle against alarming global trends, but they are working together to effect change. By establishing domestic and international non-governmental organizations, many women have recognized themselves and acknowledge to the world that they no only have the right to participate in environmental dilemmas but they have different relationship with environment including different needs, responsibilities, and knowledge about natural resources. This is why women are affected differently than men by environmental degradation, deforestation, pollution and over pollution. Women are often the most directly affected by environmental issues, so they become more concerned about environmental problems. Studies have shown the direct effects of chemicals and pesticides on human health. According to United Nations Chronicle journal researchers have found an association between breast cancer and the pesticide DDT and its derivative DDE; and also one study by the World Health Organization has found that women who are exposed to pesticides face a higher risk of abortion. These kinds of health problems cause women to feel more responsible regarding environmental issues. The environmental degradation caused while men have had dominance over women, and women's large investment in environmental sustainability, some have theorized that women would protect the Earth better than men if in power. Although there is no evidence for this hypothesis, recent movements have shown that women are more sensitive to the earth and its problems. They have created a special value system about environmental issues. People's approaches to environmental issues may depend on their relationship with nature ex. Peepal, Awala, Tulsi, Bargad are Holistic plants & tree. Both women and nature have been considered as subordinates entities by men throughout history, which conveys a close affiliation between them. 3 While it is true that poor women continue to suffer various kinds of deprivation, discrimination and atrocities, the country has mounted a concerted on slaught against these problems through various development/empowering strategies to include confidence among women, bring an awareness of their own potential and to ensure their participation in their own development, an empowering strategy has been advocated by the Government based on promotion of literacy and education, credit, employment and income generation. Though the Government of India is working towards an environmentally sound and sustainable quality of life, the problems, challenges and issues are multi-faceted. However, women in India are playing a crucial role in protection and conservation of environment. Women in our country have brought a different perspective to the environment debate, because of their different experience base. Poor women in our country have brought a different perspective to the environment debate, because of their different experience base. Poor women's lives are not compartmentalized and they see the issues in a broad and holistic perspective. They understand clearly that economics and environment are compatible. Their experience reveals to them that soil water and vegetation, necessary for their day-to-day living, requires, care and good management. Environmental degradation is related not only to the biosphere alone, but to the social sphere as well. Keeping in view the inherent capabilities of women in the management as well as the need for women entrepreneurship, development, educational and vocational training in various fields, communication skills, creativity and innovation, quality management and control, inventory and production management need to be strengthened throughout the length and breadth of the country. To achieve this, resources and strength of women need to be channelized to develop their full potential so as to take their rightful place as equal partners in all sphere. Further, there are opportunities for value addition in all agricultural commodities at the post harvest phase. Often developing countries sell the primary produce without value addition. Also, a mismatch between production not post harvest technologies benefits neither the producer nor the consumer. The demand for processed and semi processed food is also growing. This is also an area where 4 training and entrepreneurship development will be very helpful, particularly, for overcoming micronutrient deficiencies in diets. As the world moves forward at a phenomenal speed with scientists and technological advances, there is a growing feeling that biotechnological empowerment of women is absolutely essential for progress. With this in view and taking note of the potential of Biotechnology, the Department of Biotechnology has initiated programmes since 1998 to empower women and rural population by imparting skills for additional income generation. The programme has been designed to train the human resources in absorbing the technology to be adopted and practiced by them and finally how the product can be developed and sold in the market. Therefore the marketing skill has been considered as one of the major aspects. The programme also envisages training for the entreneurship so that it can attract women and rural youth to start their small enterprises for their livelihood. While designing such programmes adequate emphasis has been given on managerial aspects including financial management. The Department supported projects mainly in three different modes, namely, field demonstration, extension oriented activities and development of entrepreneurs in the proven biotechnologies and R & D Programes specially addressed to specific problems to the women. Throughout history men have looked at natural resources as commercial entities or income generating tools, while women have tended to see the environment as a resource support their basic needs. As an example, rural Indian women collect the dead branches which are cut by storm for fuel wood to use rather than cutting the live trees. Since African, Asian and Latin American women use the land to produce food for their family, they acquire the knowledge of the land / soil conditions, water, and other environmental features. Any changes in the environment on these areas, like deforestation, have the most effect on women of that area, and cause them to suffer until they can cope with these changes. An example of female predominance in the defense of natural forests comes from India in 1906. As forest clearing was expanding conflict between loggers and government and peasant communities increased. To thwart resistance to the forest cleaning, the men were diverted from their villages to a fictional payment 5 compensation site and loggers were send to the forests. The women left in the villages, however, protested by physically hugging themselves to the trees to prevent their being cut down, giving rise to what is now called the Chipko movement, an environmentalist. Chipko movement One of the first environmentalist movement which was inspired by women was the Chipko movement (Women tree-huggers in India). " Its name comes from a Hindi word meaning "to stick" (as in glue). The movement was an act of definance against the state government's permission given to a corporation for commercial logging. Women of the villages resisted, embracing trees to prevent their felling to safeguard their lifestyles which were dependent on the forests. Deforestation could qualitatively after the lives of all village residents but it was the women who agitated for saving the forests. Organized by a non-governmental organization that Chandi Prasad led, The Chipko movement adopted the slogan "ecology is permanent economy." The women embracing the trees did not tag their action as feminist activism; however, as a movement that demonstrated resistance against oppression, it had all the markings of such." It began when Maharaja of Jodhpur wanted to build a new palace in Rajasthan which is India's Himalayan foot hills. While the axemen were cutting the trees, martyr Amrita Devi hugged one of the trees. This is because in Jodhpur each child had a tree that could talk to it. The axmen ignored Devi and after taking her off the tree cut it down. Green Belt movement Another movement, which is one of the biggest in women and environment history, is the Green Belt movement. Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai founded this movement on the World Environment Day in June 1977. The starting ceremony was very simple: a few women planted seven trees in Maathai's backyard. By 2005, 30 million trees had been planted by participants in the Green Belt movement on public and private lands. The Green Belt movement aims to bring environmental restoration along with society's economic growth. This movement led by Maathai 6 focussed on restoration of Kenya's rapidly diminishing forests as well as empowering the rural women through environmental preservation, with a special emphasis on planting indigenous trees movement initiated by these Indian women (which also is where the term tree-huggers originated). This conflict started because men wanted to cut the trees to use them for industrial purposes while women wanted to keep them since it was their food resource and deforestation was a survival matter for local people. Rachel Carson One of the outstanding women environmentalists is Rachel Carson. Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was a scientists, writer, and ecologist. Rachel, Carson went to the Pennsylvania College for Women, majoring in English, but she was inspired by her biology teacher so she switched her major to biology. She became more interested and focused on the sea while she was working at the Marine Biological Laboratories in Massachusetts. Her eloquent prose let to the publication of her first book, Under the Sea-Wind: a Naturalists' Picture of Ocean Life, in 1941. In 1949 she became chief editor of the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Her second book, The Sea Around Us, won the National Book Awarded sold more than 200,000 copies. After that she retired from FWS and became a full time writer. After her third and final book about the sea. The Edge of the Sea, Carson focused on effects of chemicals and pesticides on the environment. That is when she wrote her book about environment, Silent Spring. The book was about what man has done to the nature and eventually to himself, and started a modern environmental movement. Carson believed that human and nature are mutually dependent on each other. She argued that industrial activities such as pesticides use can damages the earth ecosystem and will have far-reaching ecological consequences such as future human health problems. Today, scientific studies have demonstrated these consequences. Maria Cherkasova Maria Cherkasova (1938-) is a journalists, ecologist, and director of Centre for Independent Ecological Programmes (CIEP). She is famous because of coordinating a 4-year campaign to stop construction of hydro-electric dam on the Katun River. After Cherkasova involvement in the student movement on environmental protection 7 in 1960's, she began to work for the Red Data Book for the Department of Environmental Protection in 1960's, she began to work for the Red Data Book for the Department of Environmental Protection Institute. She researched and preserved rare species until she became the editor of USSR Red Data Book. She co founded the Socio-Ecological Union, which has become the largest ecological NGO in the former Soviet Union. In 1990, she became director of CIEP, which arrange and drives activities in an extensive range of ecologically related areas on both domestic and international fronts. Cherkasova recently has shifted her focus on children rights protection to live in a healthy environment and speaks for both inside and outside Russia and fodder collection grows and firewood becomes scarce, cowdung previously spread on the fields, is used in the kitchen, thereby depleting soil resources and causing a negative effect on the livelihood of local people and environment. It is common knowledge throughout the world that the growth of technology and the processes of commercialization, industrialization globalization affect men and women differently. The world realizes, clearly today that real development cannot take roots if it by-passes women, who not only represent half of the humanity, but represent the very kemel around which social change takes shape. Therefore, as India embarks on bold and sweeping economic reforms, concern for women and efforts to main stream them occupy the centre stage. India has been a relentless champion of the cause of women at all in international and national forums. The women's movement in India continuously interacts with and informs public opinion. The Indian Parliament has been a front-runner in progressive legislation upholding the status of women. India has the distinction of running one of the world's largest primary health care systems and the largest child development programme. India has set up a National Commission for Women through an Act of Parliament to serve as a kind of ombudsman for women"s issues in the country and the day is not far off when the Parliament opens its doors for one third of its strength to women. Relevant legal provision on environment: 8 India is one of the few countries of the world that have made a specific reference in the constitution of to the need for environmental protection, control and preservation. The constitution (42nd Amendment) Act of 1976 has made it a Fundamental duty to protect and improve the natural environment. Article 51 (a) provides that it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life and have compassion for living creatures. Article 21 of Constitution guarantee the right to life; a life of dignity, to be lived in a proper environment, free from danger of disease and infection. Besides these are number of Directive Principles, which give indirect emphasis for protection of environment. In addition to Indian Constitutional aspect, certain special legislations are also available in India for Environmental protection such as The Air (Prevention and control of pollution) Act-1981 The Water (Prevention and control of Pollution) Act, 1974. The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The India Forest Act, 1927. The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and the comprehensive legislation. Environmental protection Act, 1986 Research Studies Conclude some suggestions. The protection of women decision makers, planners, advisers and managers related to environmental management should be increased. Environmental education should be expanded in rural areas. Women when once mobilized play a significant role in environmental proteciton. 9 The potential of science and Technology should be utilized to solve environmental related problems and ease women's workload inside and outside the home. The central government should develop a strategy to eliminate various obstacles - constitutional, legal, administrative, social and economic in nature to women's full participation in sustainable development. The Government, Non-Governmental Organizations, Environmental Conservation agencies and the common man should recognize and mobilize women as active participants to protect and enrich the natural resources that sustain us. In spite of all these aspects there must be promotion of disseminating the gender relevant knowledge and valuation of women's role through formal and non-formal education. 10

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