Vandana Shiva
Shiva suggests that a more sustainable and productive approach to agriculture can be achieved through reinstating the system of farming in India that is more centered on engaging women. She advocates against the prevalent "patriarchal logic of exclusion," claiming that a “woman-focused system” is the answer.
he has assisted grassroots organizations of the Green movement and been an outspoken critic of Green capitalism and agricultural development via genetic engineering.
In 1982, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology and helped started Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seed, the promotion of organic farming and fair trade.
Her first book, Staying Alive (1988) addressed definitions of third world women. In 1990, she wrote a report for the United Nations on Women and Agriculture entitled, "Most Farmers in India are Women."
Shiva has also served as an adviser to governments in India and abroad as well as non-governmental organizations, including the International Forum on Globalization, the Women's Environment & Development Organization and the Third World Network.
Shiva is a proponent seed freedom, rejecting corporate patents on seeds. She has campaigned against the implementation of the WTO 1994 Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, which broadens the scope of patents to include life forms. Shiva has criticised the agreement as having close ties with the corporate sector and opening the door to further patents on life. She also strongly opposes Golden rice, a breed of rice that has been genetically engineered. Shiva claims that Golden Rice is more harmful than beneficial in her explanation of what she calls the "Golden Rice hoax.”
Shiva is a controversial figure and has been critiqued from a number of sides. Some feminists consider her views on women “gender essentialist.” Recently, the New Yorker wrote a critical piece on her, suggesting her claim to knowledge in the area of Physics is bombastic and that her evidence for claims is often non-existence. She received notable criticism for saying that "Soaring seed prices in India have resulted in many farmers being mired in debt and turning to suicide."