The gender gap in pro‐environmental political participation among older adults

Abstract

Citizens are increasingly concerned with environmental issues and some of them take contentious political actions or adapt their lifestyles to reduce their environmental footprint. Research finds that there is an eco-gender gap in everyday environmental behaviours, with women more active than men. However, studies of the eco-gender gap have infrequently looked at other forms of pro-environmental political behaviours and focused mostly on young people. We contribute to the literature by examining to what extent older women and men differ in a range of pro-environmental political behaviours, using a unique dataset based on a survey of individuals 64 years and older. We find strong evidence of a gender gap in everyday behaviours and political consumerism, but not in relation to contentious forms of political participation. This gender gap in relation to everyday behaviours and political consumerism diminishes with age. ZusammenfassungDie Bürger-innen beschäftigen sich zunehmend mit Umweltfragen und einige von ihnen ergreifen politische Protestmaßnahmen oder passen ihren Lebensstil an, um ihren ökologischen Fußabdruck zu verringern. Die Forschung zeigt, dass es beim alltäglichen Umweltverhalten ein eco-gender gap gibt, wobei Frauen aktiver sind als Männer. Studien über den eco-gender gap haben sich jedoch selten mit anderen Formen umweltfreundlichen politischen Verhaltens befasst und sich meist auf junge Menschen konzentriert. Wir tragen zur Literatur bei, indem wir untersuchen, inwieweit sich ältere Frauen und Männer in einer Reihe von umweltfreundlichen politischen Verhaltensweisen unterscheiden, und zwar anhand eines einzigartigen Datensatzes, der auf einer Umfrage bei Personen ab 64 Jahren basiert. Wir finden deutliche Belege für ein eco-gender gap bei alltäglichen Verhaltensweisen und

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