An ecofeminist reading of Herland, The Edible Woman and Woman On The Edge Of Time

With the rise of industry, environmental crisis, animal issues and natural concerns have been discussed globally and have been widely represented in literary works in recent years. The ecological movements in 1960s, which were organized against the environmental deterioration, developed with the Second wave feminism and led to the creation of many literary works taking the concern for women and nature as their central issues. The emergence of ecofeminist thought and ecofeminist theory coincides with that time. Ecofeminism relates the domination of women to domination of natue. Therefore, it makes a critique of the patriarchal system through a concern for women and nature. This study, consisting of four chapters, aims to discuss the concept of nature in relation with feminism in Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood and Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy, which were written at different times. The aim of the analysis is to discover how ecofeminist themes like the subjugation of nature and nonhuman animals and oppression of women, marginalized people and "others" are represented in the selected novels. As a consequence, it is thought to be relevant to read these three novels through the ecofeminist theory to understand the concepts of ecofeminist thought.