Gender Differences in Attitudes Toward Animal Research

Abstract

Although gender differences in attitudes toward animal research have been reported in the literature for some time, exploration into the nature of these differences has received less attention. This article examines gender differences in responses to a survey of attitudes toward the use of animals in research. The survey was completed by college students and consisted of items intended to tap different issues related to the animal research debate. Results indicated that women were more likely than men to support tenets of the animal protection movement. Likewise, women were more likely than men to favor increased restrictions on animal use and were more concerned than men about the suffering of research animals. Analysis of item contents suggested that women endorsed items reflecting a general caring for animals, were more willing than men to make personal sacrifices such as giving up meat and medical benefits in an effort to protect animals, and were more likely than men to question the use of animals in research on scientific grounds. Men, on the other hand, tended to emphasize the potential benefits arising from the use of animals in research.

A survey of attitudes of Turkish veterinary students and educators about animal use in research

“…The gender is the primary reason to show a definite trend in most of the studies aiming to determine an a�itude towards the animal rights and AUR, and females represent a more zoo-centric trend than males in these ma�ers (Gallup and Beckstead, 1988;Herzog et al, 1991;Driscoll, 1992;Broida et al, 1993;Furnham and Heyes, 1993;Eldridge and Gluck, 1996;Pifer, 1996;Ozen et al, 2004). The results of this study also proved that the female participants were closer to the zoo-centric line than males in both the groups of the educators and the students.…”

Becoming a Good Doctor: Perceived Need for Ethics Training Focused on Practical and Professional Development Topics

“…Based on our prior work and the existing empirical literature suggesting that ethics education is underdeveloped in many if not most medical schools, especially during the clinical training years (11,21), that women health professionals and trainees are particularly positive in endorsing the importance of ethics education and that psychiatry residents have a strong interest in ethics (22)(23)(24)(25). We generated four hypotheses: 1) medical students and residents will identify the need for greater curricular attention for most or all topics presented; 2) women respondents will express greater need than their male colleagues; 3) more advanced trainees, i.e., clinical medical students and residents, will express greater need than their preclinical student colleagues; and 4) psychiatry residents will express greater need than primary care program or other specialty program residents.…”

Applied ethics in animal research: philosophy, regulation, and laboratory applications

“…Nevertheless, my approach certainly contains some elements that are of concern to feminist ethics (see Lebacqz 1995), among which are a focus on a situated, relational self and on contextual particularities and a suspicion against a priori abstract determinations of moral value presented as fixed hierarchies. Although it is interesting to note that women have been found to be more concerned about the suffering of research animals than men and tend toward a more restrictive position regarding the use of animals in research (see Eldridge and Gluck 1996), the central concern of my approach is neither a claim to feminine expertise in such matters nor the promotion of feminist interests. On the contrary, the main thrust of my argument to refocus the attention on empathy is to demonstrate its relevance as a basic and central concept.…”