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Yulia Maleta

Abstract

This article addresses a gap on hegemonic masculinity/emphasized femininity and essentialism/constructivism within the Environmental New Social Movement (eNSM). Utilizing my interviews with Australian women members of environmentalist New Social Movement Organisations (eNSMOs), including eNGOs, academic institutions and the Greens party, I adopt a constructivist approach towards emphasized femininity, arguing that women-led strategies, strengthened through agentic competence contributes to global peace, whilst challenging the patriarchal control of environmental governance (Cockburn 1988, 2012). My feminist sociopolitical model is framed by resistance to ruling class masculinity, emphasizing participants’ gender performativity, advocating anti-nuclear agendas (Warren 1999, Gaard 2001, Butler 2013). Constructivism is relayed by the way women activists’ resist patriarchy as a barrier, in terms of ‘hierarchy’, ‘man-made decisions’ and ‘power…terrible nasty stuff’. Moreover, women accommodate emphasized femininity as an empowering enabler, framed by women-led strategies, described as ‘revolutionary’, ‘mother and child’, ‘social responsibility’ and ‘environmental protection’, whilst advocating sustainability (Leahy 2003, Connell 2005, Culley and Angelique 2010, Maleta 2012).

Author Biography

Yulia Maleta’s research objective is to address feminism and environmentalism within the frame of sociopolitical New Social Movements. As a qualitative researcher of Australian women’s experiences within renewables governance, who has published internationally on gender, politics, organisations and the environment, she aims to contribute cutting-edge empirical knowledge to the global interdisciplinary field. She has a PhD in social sciences, and has held academic posts at the University of Sydney, University of NSW and Western Sydney University. In particular, her academic employment at the University of Sydney’s School of Social and Political Sciences, such as, the Department of Government and International Relations and Department of Sociology and Social Policy, has inspired her intellectual development and creative flair in academic rigour.

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