An Eco Feminist Reading of Doris Lessing’s The Cleft

The destruction and exploitation of nature and environment is a major threat for human existence. In this context, eco feminism becomes highly relevant. Eco feminism is a new way of approaching nature. This study attempts to study Doris Lessing‟s The Cleft (2007) from an eco-feminist perspective. The article aims to depict the delineation in the history of gender discrimination and how labeling of gender became a means of exploiting women. Gender roles are based on norms and standards created by the society. This created a belief that males are superior and have ultimate authority and females are inferior and secondary beings. This gender discrimination is evident in The Cleft. In The Cleft, the ability of clefts to give birth shaped their social roles. The article also focuses on male domination over nature and women. It presents how man colonizes nature and women's body for their own benefits.