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Paper short abstract:

This paper delves into ecofeminist critiques of development through the lens of Mozambican women. Addressing their concerns across various contexts, it seeks to contribute to the collective construction of ecofeminist perspectives from the southern Mozambique's worldview.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is about the ecofeminist critique to development from the perspective of the Mozambican women. Like many African countries, Mozambique is undergoing a social, political, and economic crisis and the consequences of the global ecological catastrophe. The ecofeminist critiques of development can be summarized in four essential points: (1) the Western anthropocentric vision, which continues to define humanity's relationship with the planet and all the living and non-living beings that inhabit it; (2) the presence of androcentrism and misogyny in development thinking; (3) the development discourse as a patriarchal, colonial and capitalist product which adopts a predatory and extractive view of life, promoting global climate catastrophes; and (4) the profile of developmental extractivism in Africa combined with the specific ecological effects to which the continent is exposed, and their impact on women. The methodological approach is qualitative, where I carried out two focus group interviews with an intersectional approach: one with a group of academic and activists’ women, and other with a group of peasant women from Maputo province. I conclude that at a time when the country is dominated by neoliberal and extractivist capitalist policies, in which life is a privilege for some and not a right for all, I argue that ecofeminist critiques correspond to the concerns and challenges of these Mozambican women from different contexts. As such, this paper aims to contribute to the collective construction of ecofeminist thinking and practices that emerge from a way of speaking and thinking about the world from southern Mozambique.