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Are European witches, who have been demonized to the utmost degree and whose trials began in the 15th century (in the 1430s) and developed mainly in the 16th and 17th centuries (between 1560 and 1630), the first ecofeminists the world has known and condemned to death? They who were so close to nature, so familiar with air and fire, such experts in the power of plants, such knowledgeable healers, and, above all, so free and independent? In any case, they are absolute rebels. The image of the witch certainly inspired the feminists of the 1970s, who established a link between male domination and the exploitation of nature, emphasizing that these two forms of oppression are rooted in patriarchal and capitalist structures.
In this way, they healed…
In 1976, Xavière Gauthier, a French writer, journalist, editor, and academic, founded the magazine Sorcières (Witches). A platform for French ecofeminism, its issue number 20 was even entitled “Nature Assassinated.”
In an interview published in 2017, Gauthier says, “Why witches? Because they dance. They dance to the full moon. Lunar women, lunatics, afflicted—or so they say—by periodic madness. […] Why witches? Because they live. Because they are in direct contact with the life of their bodies, with the life of nature, with the life of the bodies of others. The witches breathed, pulsated, called to every flower, every herb, every plant. In this way, they healed. Or poisoned. Nothing supernatural about it. […] Why witches? Because they felt enjoyment” (2).
Among the authors of the all-women’s magazine, which ran for 24 issues between 1976 and 1982, was French philosopher Françoise d'Eaubonne, who first used the term ecofeminism in her book, Le Féminisme ou la mort (1974). In it, she argues that the ecological crisis is linked to patriarchy and calls for an ecofeminist revolution among women to preserve the planet.
The term was quickly adopted by women mobilizing against the nuclear race, deforestation, and the widespread use of pesticides. Ecofeminism became a militant force.
Awakening the world’s conscience
In India, the Chipko movement (1970-80) saw Hindu women oppose deforestation by physically surrounding trees to protect them. In the United Kingdom, between 1981 and 2000, a camp of militant women set up around the Greenham Common military base to protest against nuclear weapons. Peasant and indigenous struggles in Latin America and Africa, where women fought for land rights and against mining and oil extraction, also marked the 70s and 80s.
Why witches? Because they live. Because they are in direct contact with the life of their bodies, with the life of nature, with the life of the bodies of others. The witches breathed, pulsated, called to every flower, every herb, every plant. In this way, they healed.
With the ecological, health, and humanitarian crises affecting the countries of the South, fueling violence against women and girls and leading to the emergence of the phenomenon of climate refugees, ecofeminism has been enjoying renewed interest since the early 2000s. It has inspired contemporary figures such as Sweden’s Greta Thunberg and indigenous activists who denounce environmental and gendered violence.
In reference to the slogans and demonstrations of ecofeminists, journalist and essayist aure Adler wondered in her latest book, La Voix des femmes (2024), “Are women the watchdogs, the whistleblowers of the world’s future?”
The answer to this question could come from Françoise d'Eaubonne, who wrote in Ecologie et féminisme in 1978, “It is better to have an appointment with women than with the Apocalypse.”
Around the Mediterranean, endemic drought, the abusive exploitation of fish resources by men, rampant desertification… all impoverish the women who eat from and live off the sea and the land. Historically, ecofeminism seems to embody a means of making these women’s voices resonate beyond their coastal villages or their now-barren plots of land. With playful means of protest: songs, dances, paint-throwing, events… ecofeminists make noise to awaken people’s consciences and shake up political agendas.
Chollet, Mona, Sorcières, la puissance invaincue des femmes, La Découverte, 2018.
Info, 2017, Les Sorcières sont de retour. Interview with Xavière Gauthier and Danièle Carrer. Interview by Jeanne Burgart Goutal.
