GENDER AND ENVIRONMENTALISM - RESULTS FROM THE 1993 GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY

Objective. This research tests the proposal that women will be more co ncerned about the environment than men because of their socialization to the caregiver role and because of their structural position relativ ely outside the labor market and in the home. Previous research has pr oduced mixed results. Methods. We employ data from the 1993 General So cial Survey to explore the issue of gender differences in environmenta l concern in more depth. The 1993 survey includes over forty items mea suring environmental beliefs, attitudes, and reported actions, from wh ich we derive ten environmental orientation indexes. We look specifica lly at effects of social status, knowledge, trust in science, and reli giosity. Results. We find that while women do tend to show somewhat mo re personal concern than do men, they are no more likely to engage in environmental action than are men. Women (and men) of higher social st atus, with more knowledge, and with greater trust in science are more likely to engage in proenvironmental action, not less. Further, we rep licate some findings of adverse effects of homemaker status and parent hood on environmental orientations. Conclusions. While there appear to be a few gender differences in environmental orientations, these are not strong or consistent, and they do not extend to actions.