Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part L (2025)

Vandana Shiva’s works Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development (1988) and Ecology and the Politics of Survival: Conflicts over Natural Resources in India (1991) are foundational texts in ecofeminist theory and environmental justice discourse. Both texts critique dominant paradigms of development and science while foregrounding the ecological wisdom of women and indigenous communities. Despite their differing emphases—Staying Alive being more philosophical and theoretical, and Ecology and the Politics of Survival more empirical and case-based—they share several key thematic concerns that are central to understanding the intersections of ecology, gender, and power in the context of India. ecosystems (Shiva, 1991). Both works assert that ecological issues are deeply political and economic. Environmental degradation is not just a symptom of poor management but a structural outcome of unjust economic systems. Shiva contends that the commodification of nature—be it land, water, or seeds—is linked to broader dynamics of inequality, resource capture, and social dislocation. By highlighting how ecological degradation often results from top-down decision-making and privatization, she reframes ecology as a domain of political economy and social justice.