Riane Eisler
Social Systems Scientist
In 1939 Riane Eisler had to leave her birthplace and hometown Vienna with her parents. The escape from the Nazis led first to Cuba, later she settled in the USA.
Today, she is the Codirector of the Center for Partnership Studies in Pacific Grove, California. As an internationally acclaimed Scholar, Futurist, and Activist, she is the only woman mentioned in one breath with major thinkers such as Hegel, Marx, and Toynbee. She was included in the award-winning compilation "Great Peacemakers" as one of twenty leaders for world peace, along with Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King.
With her research she draws new perspectives – not only on our past, but also on the present and especially for the future. And a new social and political agenda for building a more humane and ecologically sustainable world. One of the pioneering achievements of Riane Eisler was her significant contribution to ensuring that women and children - after all, the majority of humankind - are included in the scope of human rights today.
Less than for her more than 500 scientific articles she is known for her books: Her bestseller "The Chalice and The Blade: Our History, Our Future" has now reached the 57th edition and has been published in 27 countries. In the book "The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics", praised by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Jane Goodall, she focuses on economics. Other works, such as "Transforming Interprofessional Partnerships", "Equal Rights Handbook" or and "Women, Men, and the Global Quality of Life" have won national and international awards.
In our conversation Riane Eisler explains why our understanding of gender or the "gender system of values" has become obsolete and how it relates to our exploitative relationship with "Mother Earth". And how much it influences our economic system, which is based on hierarchies. According to Eisler, an ideal economy would be completely "based on partnership". This means that it is based on mutual respect - towards people but also towards the environment.
