Wasting women—the biopolitics of waste and women

abstract

Unknown to many women, their day-to-day actions can cause great harm to themselves and people around them. From simply lighting a fire every morning, to collecting water or washing our bodies and clothes, waste permeates our environment, and the impacts (such as hormonal disruption, reproductive impacts, energy and health) are little spoken of, nor is such information known or, more often, shared. In most parts of the world, waste at home is ‘managed’ by women, with direct and indirect consequences. This open forum seeks to outline some of these impacts, their sources, the agenda behind products, packaging and processes, including so-called ‘waste management’, and some strategies towards avoiding these negative impacts, particularly on women and children. Even subtle-in-action yet pervasive and long-term wastes, such as uranium and ‘depleted uranium’ as war waste, have massive impact but are conveniently ignored by those in power as this promotes the agenda of their backers. Waste is deliberately made—and a key component in the battle for planetary resources. Are there alternatives? Who is responsible? What drives these pervasive impacts? Are people in general, and women in particular, powerless to change this?

keywords:

• POP's
• burning waste
• plastics
• hormonal disruption