Sustainability Consulting: Close the Eco Gender Gap

What gender has to do with the destruction of our livelihoods and what companies can do about it

An article by Alexandra Namyslowski.

The environmental crisis and the associated destruction of our livelihoods is man-made. But how much do men and women contribute to it? A look at harmful behaviors, causes and consequences and tips on how companies can control them.

What faces come to mind when you think of protecting our livelihoods? Greta Thunberg? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Luisa Neubauer? The primatologist Jane Goodall? Perhaps animal film veteran David Attenborough? The absurd thing is that although most people here mainly think of women, their femininity is often denied. They are described as bossy, uncomfortable, annoying, radicalizing. Attributes that do not correspond to the media's female ideal. And yet, issues such as caring for our livelihoods, protecting our environment, living more sustainably are one thing above all in our society: women's issues. Because women behave in a way that is less harmful to the environment on average, but at the same time suffer more from the consequences of the destruction of our livelihoods. The phenomenon is called the "eco-gender gap" – based on the "gender pay gap": the gender difference in income. In our four-part article series, we take a look at harmful behaviors, their causes and consequences, and tips on how companies can get on top of them.

Part 1: To what extent are more men than women destroying our livelihoods?

The different behavior of women and men is based on different perceptions and correspondingly different consumption patterns. 

Different perceptions with far-reaching consequences 

The results of the EU Gender Equality Index underline a greater awareness and sense of responsibility for climate protection among women:

Quelle: European Institute for Gender Equality

The Gender Equality Index 2023 focuses on the socially just transition of the European Green Deal and analyses the following aspects: public attitudes and behaviours towards climate change and climate protection, energy, transport, decision-making.

The Omnibus survey in Switzerland also showed that women (44 %) were more likely to believe that the climate in Switzerland is changing significantly compared to men (38 %). Women were also more likely to feel disturbed by air pollution and radiation.

The concerns that more women than men hold have far-reaching consequences. Young women approach Jade Sasser, professor of gender and sexuality studies at the University of California, Riverside, with a very basic question: "If I know how bad it is now, and I know it's going to get worse, how can I morally justify bringing a child into the world at this time?" Young men, on the other hand, do not tend to take their fear of climate change into account when deciding to have children.

The psychologist Prof. Christian Stöcker is a professor of digital communication at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg. He has written a book. The title: "Men who are burning the world – the decisive battle for the future of humanity." When asked about the reason for the focus on gender, Stöcker answers: "From Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump to Rupert Murdoch and Mohammed bin Salman. They represent so-called "petromasculinity" and benefit disproportionately from the success of fossil fuels. This term comes from the US political scientist Cara Daggett, but is now common in psychoanalysis. There are empirical studies that clearly demonstrate a correlation between the male gender and radical market and social Darwinist attitudes, particularly in the USA. This is also accompanied by a willingness to vote for parties that are right-wing radical and cast doubt on the climate crisis. In these groups, fossil fuels or combustion engines are seen as an identity feature. And this pride in making noise and destroying the planet is almost exclusively an identity-forming activity among men.”

Different consumption patterns  

In 2018, a survey by the British market research institute Mintel found that 77 % of women and only 58 % of men recycle. Women are also more likely to save water and turn off the heating when they leave the house.
Women are also more likely to buy organic products. In 2022, the Federal Environment Agency's environmental awareness study also found that one in seven women but only one in fourteen men are vegetarians. More than one in three women never or rarely eat meat, compared to only one in five men. Plastic Freedom and Package Free Shop, two popular zero-waste online retailers, make it a point to use gender-neutral marketing – but both say that around 90 % of their customers are women. 70 % of the 131,000 followers of the Instagram account Commonsearth are female.
One area in which women live on a larger scale is clothing consumption. An analysis by the customer experience platform Voyado, which evaluated 410 million purchases made in 2021, showed that women between the ages of 26 and 35 made 59 % more online purchases than their male colleagues. But they spent 47 % less.

But why are more men than women destroying our livelihoods? Alexandra Namyslowski explored this question in part 2 of our Eco Gender Gap article series.