Bridget Ann Dean
PO Box 796
Olympia, WA 98507
USA
TEL: 206/943-1143
FAX: 206/754-4578
The environmental movement in the United States has two distinct elements. Staff based environmental organizations dominated by men and based out of Washington, D.C., contrast sharply with grassroots groups largely run by women. A comparable bifurcation in environmental politics is also found in Eastern Europe and the former USSR, where the scope of political participation is frequently dictated by gender.
In environmental politics, equity issues assume a variety of rhetorical disguises. In the same way the we hear the "jobs versus the environment" argument used to gut local environmental actions, gender equity issues are either described as non-existent, a women's problem, or less important than issues of race (or nationalism in Eastern Europe). Limiting criticism by making a hierarchy of claims, distorts the readily discernible patterns of oppression and environmental destruction which accompany typical economic development. Framing issues in the language of development constrains discussion to what can be quantified, sold, or traded. This confrontational technique polarizes the various actors in environmental conflicts, making coalitions and alliances difficult.
The common enemy isn't necessarily capitalism or anonymous investors of finance capital, but the political rhetoric describing class, sex and race issues certainly points a finger in that direction. Given that capitalism was previously portrayed as the former Soviet Union's arch enemy, what does a transition to a market economy mean for environmental politics in the former Soviet Union? How applicable is the convergence model to the internationalization of the environmental movement?
In light of these questions and considerations, this paper examines the role of women in the environmental movement of the former USSR, particularly the role of women scientists. Scientists in the former Soviet Union have had a significant impact on environmental politics. To what extent do women in the former USSR have access to scientific careers? What has been tbe role of women scientists in grassroots and all union environmental organizations? How does the Russian/former Soviet experience compare with the experience of women in the United States?
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