| Nature is the very essence of all the entities that | | | | extremely powerful incidents, the miracle of birth, |
| make up the universe. Mother Nature is the mythical | | | | tenderness and kindness are also illustrated with the |
| personification of nature that has created, managed, | | | | use of the same term. |
| distributed and even regenerated all the ecosystems | | | | Social and anthropological studies discuss the |
| in the biosphere. From ancient times, images of | | | | interaction between the terms "man" and "nature" in |
| women that represent "mother earth" or "mother | | | | an effort to portray the relationship between |
| nature" are timeless. In fact, long before people | | | | mortality and ever-going change. But the |
| begun to record history, goddesses were | | | | environment, as discussed by experts entails the |
| worshipped, as they were associated with fertility | | | | force of natural progress and the role women have |
| and agriculture. Even today people use the name of | | | | played in this evolution has generally been examined |
| nature as being equivalent to a divine power that is | | | | in a variety of scientific experiments. The use, |
| able to guide the adaptation of species when these | | | | management, exploitation, administration and, of |
| are subjected to natural environmental change or | | | | course, the care, of natural resources has historically |
| when they suffer serious damage due to the | | | | been attributed to the role of women in a society |
| changes human exploitation has produced. | | | | and just as nature itself is in charge of management, |
| Along history and during the human evolutionary | | | | distribution and problem solving, so have women |
| process, the world has witnessed countless numbers | | | | faced and continue to encounter the need to |
| of peoples, tribes, ethnic groups, cultures and | | | | manage, distribute and solve whatever comes in their |
| empires. In fact, a variety of cultures the common | | | | way so as to ensure the welfare of their families. |
| denominator of "mother nature" is illustrated in the | | | | According to ancient Greek myth, Demeter, the |
| scripts of different civilizations like Incan, Assyrian, | | | | earth mother, had the power to produce or deny |
| Babylonian, Slavonic, Roman, Greek, and | | | | from humankind the fruits of the harvest. This |
| Indo-European fertility religions. Some were governed | | | | representation of women as nature is directly related |
| by matriarchies, with groups of women in many | | | | to the fact that they are able to conceive life and |
| communities assuming enormous responsibilities-taking | | | | that their daily actions profoundly affect the natural, |
| charge of their people's survival-always aiming in | | | | social, economic and cultural environments they live in. |
| finding ways of providing them with food and drink, | | | | In fact, until today, active women are the main |
| helping them to grow and develop, and taking care | | | | promoters of the protection of natural |
| of the elderly and the sick. Women, in short, have | | | | resources-whether in the big cities of industrialized |
| taken on the responsibility of guiding people's | | | | countries or the most marginalized communities. They |
| development, whatever the costs. | | | | experience today's dire environmental situation and |
| Since its early introduction and although the term | | | | directly suffer its consequences. This is the reason |
| "mother nature" is not a scientific one, it has been | | | | why women have often inspired a spirit of leadership, |
| used in science-related papers in effort to explain the | | | | activism and action to find a solution to common |
| natural phenomena humans have witnessed. Storms, | | | | problems. But nevertheless, taking care and |
| river floods, tornados, and winds are some of the | | | | protecting "mother nature" is a responsibility that |
| extreme natural phenomena related to the term | | | | must be shared and assumed equally by women and |
| "mother nature." But apart from the plethora of | | | | men alike. |