Feminism, ecofeminism, and the maternal archetype: Motherhood as a feminine universal

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Abstract
This essay analyzes the use of the maternal archetype in ecofeminist rhetoric. The maternal archetype is a rhetorically powerful image that is invoked to motivate the protection and sustenance of the environment. However, the use of motherhood as a unifying principle confounds womanhood with motherhood, and fails to honor the complexity of motherhood as an ideologically and socially constructed institution. A gender‐neutral metaphor may more effectively serve both the environmental and feminist interests of the ecofeminist movement. This analysis leads to the conclusion that invoking archetypal images uncritically may serve to obscure alternative cultural, ideological, and political values.