Waking up: feminist non-dualism and the economics of biodiversity

Mainstream economics has long pushed aside questions of normative values by claiming to be value-free. Such a judgment has deeply gendered historical, psychological, and philosophical roots. Valuing nature as something more than a passive resource, therefore, requires not just a shift in values but an exploration into the nature of valuing itself. Scholarship from feminist theory and feminist economics can help. First, these offer an explanation for why the inclusion of non-instrumental and non-monetary values has so strongly been resisted. Second, they can offer a vision of dynamic interdependence that goes beyond the possibilities envisioned by both mainstream thinkers and those whose critique is based on a simple oppositional reaction. Third, a feminist analysis can suggest some important directions for work.