s>EPA United States Environmental Protection Agency Off ice of Public Awareness (A-107) Washington DC 20460 Revised June 1978 OP A 8 6'8 Women and the Environment. Women as Agents of Change ------- Dear Friends and Colleagues: The work of the United States Environmental Protec- tion Agency is directed towards achieving balance be- tween human activities and the ability of nature's systems to sustain life. Many of these air, land, and water systems are being endangered because of pollu- tion. We cannot succeed in the monumental task of cleaning up the environment and preventing pollution without the help of every citizen. Since our creation in 1970, we have worked with State and local governments, citizen organizations and countless private individuals to inspire public sup- port and participation. We believe that women, who traditionally have exercised the caretaker role in socie- ty, have special skills and can make a considerable contribution to meeting environmental challenges. We are proud to relate to the concerns of women. As an agency we take pleasure in honoring women who have pioneered in environmental protection and we earnestly enlist the active support of all women for the arduous jobs ahead. Sincerely yours, Barbara Blum Deputy Administrator ------- I . f ------- Women and the Environment Women and the environment are closely bound. Throughout history, women have been immortalized as powerful symbols of nature: Mother Earth, Earth Goddess, Demeter and Ceres, the Greek and Roman goddesses of agriculture and fruitfulness, Artemis, Moon goddess and controller of the ocean tides. Women have personified nature, as men have sym- bolized organized society. Women as bearers and conservers of life, as those who first guide children, should be foremost in dedication to the environmental cause. Our nation and our world are facing compelling and complex environmental questions. The issues of air pollution, water quality, toxic substances, noise levels, nuclear radiation, public health protection, con- servation of wildlife, and food supply in an increas- ingly populous world, loom even larger as we come to understand that we cannot transcend nor disregard the hard realities of our world. Nature's resources and the carrying capacity of nature's systems are finite. We need to learn both to conserve what we have now and to reach out for new ways of using and reusing resources. For example, what are the trade-offs that can lead to points of compatible balance between growth and ecological responsibility? Women must be involved in every aspect of these policy decisions as our society strives for fresh responses to these difficult questions. Women have the opportunity to bring a new sen- sibility to bear on environmental policies. Women have made great gains in the struggle for equal opportunity for jobs and education. Women have challenged the stereotypes of women's abilities which have artifically constricted roles and behavior. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that women have had a different historical experience from that of men. This has given women a distinct world-view and a dif- ference in perspective which women can contribute to the tough environmental decisions we all face. Women have played and must continue to play a wide variety of roles within the environmental move- ment. As homemakers, as consumers, as health custodians, and as environmental activists and profes- sionals, women are engaged in the changing environ- ment. ------- ------- Women as Homemakers Linked to the Environment By the nature of their traditional roles, men and women have experienced the environment in different ways. Men have functioned in the "open" world, a place where resources were seemingly endless, waiting upon his domination, and the only apparent limits were those which were self-imposed. The woman has worked as a homemaker, as a manager of time and resources within a clearly defined sphere, the parameters of which are fixed. To create and sus- tain a household, she has dealt with limited quantities of money, food and other necessities. Today, our recognition that our planet has a fixed capacity to sustain life is what every homemaker has known. Home, whether that of the individual, of society as a whole, or of all other creatures, is a place of infinite complexity but of finite resources. Women's awareness of this seeming paradox gives her useful insight in finding solutions to environmental problems. ------- • • • " ' • i -sr 'm x» ------- Women as Consumers Linked to the Environment As consumers, women have a powerful potential in environmental policy decisions. In the United States, women often to a great degree determine how the consumer dollar is spent, because women shop for themselves, their children or their husbands. The rela- tion between consumerism and natural resources is a critical one. National policies in the United States are determined largely by economic power. What we decide to consume determines what wastes are returned to the Earth's air, water and land. What we consume determines who is employed and who is not, and at what level and skill. What we consume determines whether we become precariously depen- dent on imported resources, how rapidly we bankrupt domestic resources, how fast we use up the world's fossil fuels, and how much time we have to permit the development of alternative, renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and geothermal sys- tems. Finally, women's consumer power may largely determine whether this nation can make an orderly transition from fossil to other fuels or whether massive dislocations and scarcities will occur. Women may well determine the future of the environment by their success or failure in becoming caretaking con- sumers. ------- ------- Women as Health Custodians Linked to the Environment Women well understand the impact the environment has on health. Women are concerned with good health and use health care facilities in this country two and a half times as frequently as men do. Women are the primary custodians of children's health. The health of women is affected directly by a number of the toxic chemicals in widespread use. For example, many women show concentrations of DDT in their breast milk. DES (diethylstil bestrol) that a generation ago was medically prescribed to prevent miscarriages in women, and more recently has been used as an animal feed supplement, now is being scrutinized as a possible health hazard. DES con- tamination has been implicated in breast cancer, fibroid tumors, and excessive menstrual bleeding. The environmental risks posed to pregnant women and fetuses are of special concern, and these hazards now are being investigated and assessed by scientists. With women's involvement, choices between eco- nomic expediency and health can be resolved in favor of health and future well-being. ------- I ^r •^•^M.A ------- Women as Environmental Activists and Professionals As environmental activists women have made pro- found contributions. For example, in Japan, in the late 1950s, it was women who led the struggle that ended the Minamata disease, an organic mercury poisoning which claimed hundreds of lives and in- flicted suffering on thousands more. A small group of women in the poor fishing village of Minamata launched an attack on the large Chisso Corporation demanding financial compensation for the victims and their families, a halt to the dumping of mercury wastes in the bay, and major readjustments in the in- dustrial process. It is noteworthy that this battle to force the Chisso Corporation to end a health hazard to the community was won by nonmanagerial female employees. Individual women have led the way in the environ- mental movement. In 1958, Rachel Carson, a marine biologist, began an investigation of the effects of pesticides on nature's biological order. Her findings, written in Silent Spring in 1962, produced a revolution in environmental thinking. Today, many women, pro- fessionals and activists, focus the attention of society on major environmental issues. 11 ------- ------- Women as Agents of Change Women must become even better informed and more deeply involved at every level of environmental decision-making — as scientists, as political activists, as administrators of public and private agencies, as homemakers, as caretaking consumers, and as custo- dians of life. Women representing a unique combination of values, sensibilities and strengths, are agents of change for an environment in which the errors of the past will be rectified and our future environment made healthful and secure. Readers interested in more information on EPA are invited to get in touch with the EPA Regional Office most convenient to them. EPA Regions and States covered EPA Region 1 Rm. 2303 J.F. Kennedy Bldg. Boston MA 02203 Connecticut, Maine, Massachu setts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island. Vermont EPA Region 2 Rm. 1005. 26 Federal Plaza New York NY 10007 New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands 212-264 2525 EPA Region 3 6th and Walnut Streets Philadelphia PA 19106 Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, District of Columbia EPA Region 4 245Courtland St. N.E. Atlanta GA 30308 Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky EPA Region 5 230 S. Dearborn Chicago IL 60604 Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota EPA Region 6 1201 Elm Street Dallas TX 75270 Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico EPA Region 7 Rm 249. 1735 Baltimore Ave. Kansas City MO 64108 Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska EPA Region 8 Suite 900. 1860 Lincoln St. Denver CO 80203 Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Mon tana, North Dakota, South Dakota EPA Region 9 215 Fremont Street San Francisco CA 94105 Arizona, California, Nevada, Hawaii EPA Region 10 1200 Sixth Avenue Seattle WA 98101 Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington ------- |