Men, women, and the environment: An examination of the gender gap in environmental concern and activism

Abstract

Relatively little information yet exists regarding gender differences in environmental concern and activism. What information is available has so far provided a mixed picture, with some studies indicating men to be more concerned than women, others indicating women to be more concerned, and still others finding no significant differences. This study provides additional evidence from national survey data. From these data, women were found to express greater concern for the environment than men before and after applying multivariate controls for age, education, labor force/homemaker status, and other variables. However, the magnitude of the differences was not great. Gender differences in environmental activism provided an ironic contrast. Even though women indicated somewhat greater concern, rates of environmental activism for women were substantially lower than for men. Furthermore, these differences were greater than differences in rates of general political participation and persisted in spite of multivariate controls for socioeconomic status, homemaker status, and other variables. That the environmental activity of women appears to be constrained by factors in addition to those constraining general political activity is similar to earlier findings regarding the environmental activity of blacks. Common threads in these findings are explored.