Byron Williston Ecofeminism In Environmental Ethics

This case study examines key points in chapter six, titled Ecofeminism in Environmental Ethics for Canadians edited by Byron Williston. Williston also relates the chapter to a current real-world issue, in this case, it is how women should be at the frontline of environmentalists and that conclusion is made since there is dioxin being found inside the breast milk of mothers (183). Dioxins that contaminate breast milk come from industrial processes such as the incineration of medical waste and the chlorination of wood in pulp mills (184). These industries are very common throughout North America, especially considering the amount of products that are made out of wood in Canada. A university campus will have thousands upon thousands of products that are made out of wood and therefore, have been chlorinated in a pulp mill. To stop these factories all together would put a halt to Canadian development and put western society in a deadlock in which it would take years to replace the amount of wood products that are being chlorinated and produced.
Another possible solution that is immediately invalidated is to put a ban on breastfeeding. Instead, Williston offers the idea to focus a pollution campaign on these dioxins at the source instead of the …show more content…
She argues that women are denied jobs of high pay in a patriarchal society based on the idea that many high paying jobs are too physically demanding for women (171). Since women in western society are unable to obtain these high paying jobs, women are unable to obtain power, since money is power in a capitalist society, which western society is. Women’s issues will not be taken seriously in a society that is patriarchal. Dealing with the issue of dioxins in a female’s breastmilk does not directly affect the males in power, and therefore, have no reason to fix the