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Latest Scientific Discovery Drops Bombshell — ‘Mother Nature’ Is Biologically Male — Ruminations on the Value of Care as Sustainable Organizational Practice
Author(s) -
Young Ali
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
gender, work and organization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.159
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1468-0432
pISSN - 0968-6673
DOI - 10.1111/gwao.12185
Subject(s) - acknowledgement , materiality (auditing) , value (mathematics) , ecofeminism , environmental ethics , sociology , globe , psychology , social psychology , criminology , political science , aesthetics , philosophy , computer security , machine learning , neuroscience , computer science
Noting the increasing employment of the trope, Mother Earth, I link this with ongoing attempts within ecofeminism(s) to re‐balance the significance given to both mothers and nature(s). Despite the contentious nature of a subject that has become mired in potentially un(re)productive conflict among feminists and ecofeminists, I follow Phillips in suggesting that it is vital not to dismiss the materiality of the ‘maternal body’ before it has been adequately theorized and valued. This paper is intended to encourage alliances at a time when hyper‐masculine organizational culture is increasing its assaults on both women and the environment. Such assault continues to be coupled with the ongoing refusal to give proper acknowledgement to the caring labours of women all over the globe. If we continue to allow care to be devalued simply because of its long historical association with women, current organizational forms are likely to become ever more brutal in their strategic quest to expand into ever shrinking and contested territories. By contrast, an ecofeminist focus in which no body is viewed as less than another, has the potential to create a theoretical and practical approach that is precisely what our current crises call for.