Feminism and Environmental Justice: The story of Wangari Muta Maathai

Wangari Maathai once said “there are opportunities even in the most difficult of moments.” Coming from a country largely unwelcoming towards her greatest passion--environmental justice-- Maathai experienced barriers to pursuing her biggest goals. Kenyan academia was hesitant to accept the work and politics of a woman who was viewed as overstepping traditional gender roles. However, it is because of her outspokenness and disregard for gender roles that Maathai received the 1993 Edinburgh Medal, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, the 2007 Indira Gandhi Prize, and many more. 

At the age of 20, Maathai received a scholarship to study abroad from the newly launched Kennedy Airlift project which aimed to make Western education more easily attainable through scholarships. She went on to study biology at Benedictine College (then Mount St. Scholastica College), and then received her masters in biology from the University of Pennsylvania. It was because of this scholarship that Maathai was able to break into the western climate change dialogue and begin her work on the Green Belt Movement.

So why are scholarships so critical? Like Maathai, Asherah wants women to find and pursue their passions through education. Without access to her scholarship, Maathai’s crucial achievements in climate justice might have never been realized, and the Green Belt Movement would not have been launched. Asherah strives to emphasize the community impact of empowering a single woman, and Maathai perfectly exemplifies this in her works. 

After graduating with her masters, she pursued a doctorate in Germany, and in 1971 became the first East African woman with a PhD. She soon became involved in many civic organizations, including the Environment Liaison Centre which worked to promote the UN’s Environmental Programme, and the National Council of Women of Kenya. Through these organizations she noticed that the root of many of Kenya’s issues was its environmental degradation. Her passion for restoration of the environment drove her to establish the Green Belt Movement. The movement aims to “mobilize community consciousness for self-determination, justice, equity, reduction of poverty, and environmental conservation, using trees as the entry point” and to organizing women in rural Kenya to stop deforestation, restore sources of fuel for cooking, generate income, and stop soil erosion. This movement represents the physical manifestation of Maathai’s core values: Empowering women, restoring justice, and conserving the environment. 

Her work eventually led to the foundation of the Pan-African Green Belt Network and expanded out into the rest of Africa. Maathai faced backlash from the Kenyan government, and her movement was impacted by Kenya’s turbulent transition from a single party government to a democracy. Maathai was eventually appointed to the Kenyan parliament and was an MP until 2005. During this time, she also founded a party connected to her Green Belt Movement to allow candidates to run on a platform of conservation. 

Wangari Maathai continuously strove to increase her education, and showed how, even after your education ends, you never stop learning. Her constant thirst for knowledge is akin to our own at Asherah, and reminds us all why every woman deserves access to education, no matter their age or circumstances. Her integration of feminism and environmental conservation not only empowered women in her community, but helped to reforest Kenya, planting over 51 million trees and training over 30,000 women in trades which simultaneously preserve the land and bring in income. 

Her life’s work and immeasurable success prove that education is key to understanding and tackling social issues, and given the proper tools, a single woman is capable of changing the world. 

“We all share one planet and are one humanity; there is no escaping this reality.”

- Wangari Muta Maathai