and the GBM connected the marginalisation of women and poverty to environmental degradation and promoted a grassroots approach to development by empowering women to control the environment. Their intention is to ensure that women have independent sources of income and also to conserve the environment through sustainable resource management. History Prior to the Green Belt Movement's founding, specifically during the 1970s, there was a restricted political opportunity structure within Kenya because the government at the time was very politically repressive. The Kenyan government was dominated by men and their patriarchal and repressive views, which created many issues for women. Many women throughout Kenya were struggling with feeding their families, getting access to natural resources (water, wood). Moreover, many Kenyan women didn't have any form of legal protection or say when it came to the politics in Kenya. Women were so repressed and treated so poorly that they weren't allowed to be in government or sit in on political meetings. Eventually changes within Kenya and its government occurred. The Green Belt Movement specifically played an essential role in changing the ways women were treated, excluded from, and used in Kenya. The framing of the Green Belt Movement as a non-threatening environmental conservation effort made an enormous impact on the government and communities during a time that many other forms of activism were seen as threats to the government. However, by encouraging women to question their place and challenge social and political institutions that keep women compliant the Green Belt Movement was eventually founded officially. : The Green Belt Movement began with Maathai founding the organization in 1977, but she founded the organization because of what she studied, taught, witnessed, learned, and wanted to change. She began with founding the movement, but prior to founding the movement she was involved she was a part of another environmental organization. Maathai served as chairwoman of the UNEP's Environment Liaison Center board, which today is called the Environment Liaison Center International. From serving as a chairwomen with the UNLEP, she later on in 1974, switched gears, and began focusing her time and energy on mitigating environmental issues. Maathai focused for efforts on battling deforestation issues, and how to fix various other forest-related issues in order to improve the overall quality of life for the women and children in Kenya. Maathai began with introducing tree planting programs and regimes into local communities/ targeting communities with little