A Woman’s Love and Nature — Aleta Baun, Indonesia

Over the past centuries, there is no doubt that men and women roles have less distinction. These differences impact gender roles in any situations such as family, organization, economic, and environmental as well.

Women have significant roles not just in a family but in society. Their responsibilities most likely begin at home where they manage the household and look after their children, therefore the roles expectation tends women to just staying at home.

In this case, women have a connection with sustainability to create a better change in the future. Since feminism has evolved, women participation have gained in every sector especially in environmental issues because women will affect the most when it comes to natural resources.

In the 1980s, Ecofeminism theory explained there is an intersection between the oppression of women and the harmed environment. This theory essentializes that women are being victim and differentiated. The inequality between men and women came from several factors such as roles conflict that prevent women’s access and different responsibility in the family. This condition also causing domination among men toward women.

According to Gaard and Gruen (1993), domination practice has created value dualism between men and women. Patriarchal culture formed a hierarchy within society which men have more value and privileged than women who dominated and less valued (p. 237–238).

Domination is a real example that becomes a prominent thing among men and women. Women are associated to do domestic support and manage the home environment. Their living tends to close to nature especially women in the indigenous community who are responsible for preparing food and medication for their family. They have to walk farther into the forest to get raw material and firewood for fuel. According to Gaard and Gruen (1993),

“Women produce approximately 80 percent of the world’s food supplies and for this reason, women are most severely affected by food, fuel shortages and the pollution of water sources.” (p. 241).

When the disaster happened, the woman stays at home while the man was going out for work. The woman usually depends on their man’s decision in order to cope with the emergency situation. They will save their children first while men could migrate independently. Miles’s article (2003) found the following:

“They noted that women and nature were often depicted as chaotic, irrational, and in need of control, while men were frequently characterized as rational, ordered, and thus capable of directing the use and development of women and nature.”

Nepal earthquake in 2015 has shown different impacts and experiences of women, men, and children when the natural disaster happened. Based on Norlha’s report (2015), The Nepal Disaster Risk Reduction Portal of the Government of Nepal counted a total of 8,780 deaths as of 11th June 2015, out of which 55% are female victims (Government of Nepal, 2015) which composed of female-headed households, women with disabilities, women above 65 years, women below 14 years, and women who are illiterate (p. 2–3).

Several factors in these situations are labor differences among women, level of education, and survival skill. Related to the environmental movement which has an intersection between gender and environmental issues is one that leads by Aleta Baun from Mollo, the Island of Timor, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Aleta was born in 1966 at Lelobatan, South Timor.

At that time she began a local movement against marble company around her land by a weaving protest. She was a housewife and mother of two children. A deeper and sacred meaning of the forest within Mollo’s people, her love for nature and community brought her to conduct a movement against marble mining that causing land destruction where she lived. Aleta empowered other villagers especially women to stood for their rights and restored the Mutis Mountain by gathering a weaving force on cliffs throughout the year.
Her movement with the villagers was concerning about marble mining that caused environmental destruction on Mutis mountain.

The mountain has a significant role for indigenous people in Timor or Mollo’s people as their natural resource and sacred forestland. Mutis mountain also a land for rich biodiversity. Marble company destroyed the ecosystem around the area and cutting out marble from the mountain. If these destructions keep continued on their forestland, it will have a huge impact on the ecosystem and Mollo’s people itself. Aleta said that marble mining can cause a landslide and threaten water supply for consumption and irrigation.

The state government permitted several marble companies to run their activities in Mutis Mountain, West Timor. The companies started their activities without any discussion with the local community around Mutis Mountain. Destruction had begun and affected indigenous people’s lives in various aspects especially Molo’s people who lived there. The impact of mining activities has caused a dominoes effect. The mountain had supplied water and irrigation for people in West Timor, was being contaminated by marble washing waste. After the area changed into erosion forest, it surely affected the economic condition of Mollo’s people. Farming areas were decreased, farm animals had grazing difficulty, and people troubled to search for a firewood.

Natural dye plantation was the commodity that affected women of Mollo’s the most.
People rely on their economy and domestic supplies in the forest, such as consumption, medicine, and natural dye. Most of the indigenous women in Timor have a weaving skill across generation and they use dye from nature. It will cause a huge impact within Mollo’s community if the four locations of mining activities were still going on.

One of the most important things was Mollo’s people have a deep spiritual connection to the forest and made them as part of their identity. In Jawa Pos (2016), She came to the analogy that forest is like our body, if nature we lived in were damaged then our body will be harmed too. The community movement had been going since the company came for mining in the 1980s until it officially stopped in 2011.

The strategy employed in this movement was quite different from a common protest that usually involves massive people and free speech. Eventually, Aleta’s efforts brought a huge amount of Mollo’s people to show their protest against marble mining activity. In 2006, 150 women involved in ‘’menenun” or weaving movement throughout the year.

Weaving is one of the traditions among indigenous women in Timor. It is tightly close to them as a part of their identity, each woman’s skill in weaving also determines her level in their environment.

Erni (2003) added that traditional woven fabric or ‘kain tenun’ has a deep and glorious meaning. By using the fabric, it will represent what we see through the history of the people who have made it. ‘Kain tenun’ roles as an evidence that will reveal another side of the Timor cultures itself. Therefore when someone is wearing woven fabric, we will simply associate them with a Timor indigenous people.

Aleta and three other women’s effort to gained support from villagers had done by traveling on foot and it can take almost six hours for them to cross the villages. Mollo’s villages consist of five regions which are: North Mollo, South Mollo, Central Mollo, Fatung Nasi and Numbena.

In each village, Aleta brought the same message that Mollo’s living cannot be separated from nature. The forest that lies on Mutis Mountain is a part of Mollo’s people live and it is not just their main resource to fulfill their basic needs such as food and water. It is more than an economic aspect. Aleta was reminding other villagers that forest meaning was deeper as a part of their identity which indigenous people should protect. In one of an interview with Aleta on Mata Najwa, Metro TV. Secretary who used to propose Aleta’s name to Goldman Award told that Aleta’s movement was based on spirituality that filled with prayers and ritual, she built a consolidation through traditions and prayers within Mollo’s people.

via inaturefilms.org

As a part of their movement, hundreds of Mollo’s women started weaving in mining location for a year. The most prominent thing that happened in this movement was switching roles between men and women in Mollo’s people when the protest held. Men were doing domestic support. They were staying at home, looked after their children and did the household works, while their woman went to weaving on the mountain.

This condition is on the contrary to patriarchy culture in most of Indonesian that women stereotype has strongly lived in our society. In our history, women were associated as a powerless and weaker human being than men. They have more limited opportunity and access to education as well as occupation.

Women were close to the house-hold work and raising the children while men were more likely responsible for the livelihood and have more freedom to any opportunity. A common image of women which has conveyed in advertising or usually appeared in the media has a significant impact on the meaning of the form ‘beauty’ itself. A woman was oppressed by the ideal image of beauty with skinny body and lighter skin. Patriarchy system which placing masculinity over women has been concerned by many feminists throughout the time.

There are many factors contribute to the conflicting gender. According to Gaard and Gruen (1993), one of the factors is the patriarchal system resulted from religion and evolutionary development. A woman was created from Adam’s rib and considered to serves all man. Based on the human social evolution theory, a woman’s body along with their reproductive role and life-bearing activities were in contrary to man which was associated with hunting activity and behavior.

It is resulting evolutionary shift that women, animal, and nature are seen as inferior in the cultural activities which distinguished them from men in their capacities and behavior (p. 237). Otherwise, Aleta’s movement indicates a contrast situation with common patriarchy practice that usually being a common culture among indigenous people in Indonesia. Men were involving differently in protecting the land community, which unconsciously has supporting the works of feminism too.

What Aleta and other women have done to their village and Mutis Mountain is one of the evidence that women are able to empower each other and being an influential person in their society. When the movement occurred, she had been a target of murder from the sides of the mining company. Mollo’s men stayed at home giving support to their wives and guard them when the weaving protest was going. Some of the men villagers were also arrested and beaten.

After a year of struggle, hand in hand to spoke their rights through weaving movement. They were survived and not only got their land back, but their rights as indigenous people. Some of the local and international media noticed their movement against mining on their land. Finally, the company was not able to deal with Mollo’s people protest. The state government stopped it's permission and closed four mining locations. The company officially stopped operating in 2011. Aleta has saved her land from any damage caused by marble mining activity in Mutis Mountain, East Nusa Tenggara.

Due to her empowerment in order to save the nature, social, and culture environment, she received the Goldman Environmental Prize 2013 in San Fransisco, United States. She received 150.000 dollars along with other winners, Jonathan Deal (South Africa), Azzam Alwash (Iraq), Rossano Ercolini (Italy), Kimbely Wasserman (US), and Nohra Padilla (Colombia).

Currently, Aleta still active to serves her community and other indigenous around her village to protect and conserve the land forest across West Timor. In Jakarta Post (2013), she told about her community that concerning to the water conservation in the upstream area of their territory, they attempt to joint three other communities and strengthen the ownership of their land.

Aleta Baun’s story is one of the movements that shows an intersection between gender and environmental issue. It shows a greater and essential role of women in our living. Women are holding many responsibilities on their shoulder and at the same time, they have to endure any possible risks. They are very vulnerable to sexual and domestic violence due to culture in society, patriarchy system, lack of education and information, etc.

If these values are kept and implemented both in men and women in the world, inequality will not be a burden for one party. Otherwise, men and women are able to respect each other, and working together to achieve sustainability and stand peacefully in their livelihood.

via Goldmanprize.org