News Center- Maria Mies, eco-feminist, theorist, activist and writer, passed away in Cologne, Germany, on May 16, 2023 at the age of 92.

The Jineology Academy and Jineology Center of Europe have released a written statement on the death of Maria Mies. “Maria Mies, who made important contributions to the perspective of women’s struggles around the world with her theses on ecofeminism, was a source of inspiration for both the feminist movement and the Kurdistan Women’s Freedom Movement. Maria Mies has occupied a productive and energetic place in the struggle for women’s liberation and the struggle for ecology around the world, not only as a theorist but also as an activist,” the statement said.

‘She established the basic perspective of struggle of the women’s movements’

The statement added, “In her classic work ‘Patriarchy and Accumulation on a Global Scale’, in which she examines the social origins of the sexual division of labor, Maria Mies critically examined the new international division of labor and the role women are forced to play as producers and consumers, as well as the general history of the processes of colonization and “domestication”, and thus established the basic perspective of struggle of the women’s movements. In her works, Maria Mies not only created an elegy based on the stories of the victims, but also a language of action on how women have resisted and must resist anti-women policies. In her book ‘Women: the Last Colony’, which has become a classic as a bedside book for women, she determined that “women were the first to be colonized”. With this thesis, Maria Mies has contributed an important intellectual and action theory to all ecological, feminist and social movements by determining that the colonization of women and the colonization of nature began at the same time.

‘We are grateful to Maria Mies’

“The Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan, inspired by this observation, labeled women as the “first and last colony”. As Jineolojî Academy, we are grateful to Maria Mies for revealing the hidden knowledge and invisible work of women and lifting the curtain of history. In 2014, when we met with her on the occasion of the Jineolojî Conference, she stated feeling “very moved and proud to see that there are women who keep alive the hope that she nurtured in her youth with the same illusion, and that these women multiply and strengthen the struggle for freedom.

Maria Mies opened new paths with her intellectual and practical work, the knowledge of women that she revealed and her theses that contributed to the struggle for women’s liberation. We will continue to unveil women’s knowledge and deepen this endeavor on the path she paved.

 

As the Academy of Jineolojî and the Jineolojî Center of Europe, we deeply mourn the passing of Maria Mies and remember her with respect, affection and gratitude.

 

The Academy of Jineolojî and Jineolojî Center of Europe”