Does your gender impact how you see climate change and the environment?

Most studies find that women are more concerned about the environment than men. But according to a study from the Human Ecology Review, researchers argue that the difference is in the way an individual interacts with nature. Here at Iowa State, some professors agree. 

Ann Oberhauser, professor of sociology and director of women’s and gender studies in 2015, focuses her work on feminist theory and research, gender and globalization, development studies and gender and work. 

Most of Oberhauser’s work is international, based out of Sub-Saharan Africa. She also leads a study abroad program focused on gender and sustainable development in Tanzania that will take place in June.

During the program, students partner with local Tanzanians in women’s advocacy groups to look at water harvesting efforts and improved agricultural techniques.

Oberhauser said women will be greatly impacted by current environmental issues such as climate change and deforestation. As women search for firewood to heat their homes and cook with, these resources will be scarce, taking a toll on how far women have to travel to find these resources.

“Women are oftentimes involved with gathering water so more and more with water issues they have to walk a long way or they’re carrying water on their head or transporting it,” Oberhauser said. “If they have to walk that much further to get water, it becomes much more challenging for women especially.”

Maaz Gardezi, doctoral student in sociology and instructor for environmental sociology, believes that environmental concern depends on much more than the romanticized view of women’s connection to nature.

It depends on what type of environmental concern women and men are interacting with, Gardezi said. For women in developing countries, any issues with water may be of concern, because it is traditionally their job to collect it.

For men who are farmers, the issue may be about the quality of their soil.

The new ecological paradigm, a sociology term most often used to measure environmental concern, states, “In order for us to start thinking of the interaction of human and nature we have to look at it in terms of them being in tandem but also in a very balanced way,” Gardezi said.

Stronger social-altruistic environmental values, or showing a selfless concern for the well-being of others in relation to the environment and nature, occur within women, according to the Human Ecology Review.

“Even in this broad category of women some could be more concerned about the environment depending on whether they have children, whether their lives are dependent on natural resources, are they rich or poor, whether they can afford to go to products that are environmentally friendly,” Gardezi said.

Danielle Wirth, lecturer in sociology, said that no gender is more environmentally concerned than the other. Rather, the concerns come with the way men and women interact with nature.

Women around the world with no formal education are getting involved in environmental issues because their children, food supply and water systems are directly impacted by degradation, Wirth said.

“Many men would prefer to work with land in terms of its utilitarian values,” Wirth said. “What is its productivity? When women are talking about land in addition to productivity, words that they use to describe land are ‘healthy’ and ‘beautiful.’” 

Men, on the other hand, find interest in the inputs and outputs needed to sustain the goods they are receiving from the land.

Gardezi suggests that there should be a shift in leadership for environmental governance, which would allow more women to decide on issues of environmental importance in politics.