Negotiating Gender and Nature: An Ecofeminist Reading of Geetanjali Shree’s Mai: Silently Mother

Peer-Reviewed
The Criterion

The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN: 0976-8165

Open Access

Indian Literature

Negotiating Gender and Nature: An Ecofeminist Reading of Geetanjali Shree’s Mai: Silently Mother

Partha Das, Prof. (Dr.) Gauri Shankar Jha
Volume / Issue
Vol. 17, Issue 1 · February 2026

Pages
141-152

Article ID
2026V17N1056

Abstract

Abstract: The French feminist Françoise d’Eaubonne coined the term Ecofeminism in 1974, by combining the words “ecology” and “feminism” to convey the connection between gender and environment and the ways the patriarchal system oppresses both women and nature. This study aims to analyze Geetanjali Shree’s novel Mai, silently mother, through the lens of Ecofeminism, focusing on the intersections of gender, memory and resistance as articulated by influential feminist theorists; Vandana Shiva and Maria Mies in their concepts of ‘Maldevelopment’ and ‘Subsistence’ to explore Mai’s silent resistance and fostering resilience that parallel the ecological process of regeneration. The central character of the novel is Mai. She is a metaphor for nature and an embodiment of Nurturance, strength and resistance that are attributed to nature’s silent but resistive trait. It argues how patriarchy dominates and confines Ma to domestic issues just as nature is exploited by male-dominated society. In this novel, Ma’s silenced life is explored by her daughter and son. Ma is a metaphor for the silence but enduring force of nature. This paper will explore how the writer, by linking women and nature, has challenged the definition of power from loud and dominant to quiet and enduring thereby reflecting the shared fates of many women and of nature that both resist in their own way.

Keywords

EcofeminismVandana ShivaMaiGeetanjali ShreePatriarchyMaldevelopmentSubsistence

Article History

Received
20-01-2026
Accepted
11 February 2026
Published Online
3 February 2026

How to Cite

Partha Das, Prof. (Dr.) Gauri Shankar Jha. “Negotiating Gender and Nature: An Ecofeminist Reading of Geetanjali Shree’s Mai: Silently Mother.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 1, Feb. 2026, pp. 141-152. ISSN: 0976-8165. DOI: https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n1.11

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