MAKING A BIG STINK - WOMENS WORK, WOMENS RELATIONSHIPS, AND TOXIC-WASTE ACTIVISM

Women constitute the majority of both the leadership and the membership of local toxic waste activist organizations; yet, gender and the fight against toxic hazards are rarely analyzed together in studies on gender or on environmental issues. This absence of rigorous analysis of gender issues in toxic waste activism is particularly noticeable since many scholars already make note that women predominate in this movement. This article is an attempt to understand how women activists transcend private pain, fear, and disempowerment and become powerful forces for change by organizing against toxic caste in their communities. This article systematically looks at these connections by examining data from survey research and care studies. The authors are particularly interested in the transformation of self of these women with an emphasis on ''ways of knowing.'' They also examine the potential of existing social movement theories to explain women's activism against toxic waste.