Germaine Greer

When Welsh women turned up at the RAF base at Greenham Common in 1981, they were carrying a banner that read ‘Women for Life on Earth’. Theirs was direct action, born of gut reaction, virtually innocent of theoretical framework.

Feminists can be found wherever the planet and our fellow earthlings are in trouble. They shepherd stranded cetaceans back into deeper water, stand in front of lorries carrying live animals to slaughter, lash themselves to conveyor belts in protest against the logging of old-growth forests, march and lobby against the threat of fracking.

The action they cannot be moved to take on their own behalf, they take on behalf of the planet. If the planet is to survive and human beings continue to inhabit it, this female energy must be unleashed.