The relationship of gender to species conservation attitudes

Abstract

It has been over 10 years since Kellert and Berry's (1987) pioneering study on the influence of gender on attitudes toward wildlife. Since data were gathered for that study, several sociopolitical movements have entered the American ecopolitical scene, including the Sagebrush Rebellion and the Wise Use Movement, providing impetus for a current assessment of attitudes toward wildlife. Consequently, we conducted a nationwide mail survey to assess gender influences on attitudes toward wildlife conservation issues. In our study, women ascribed greater preservation value to nonhuman species than men, selected ecological importance as the most important factor in prioritizing species for conservation (as did men), exhibited a greater concern for species conservation relative to property rights than men, and expressed stronger support for the Endangered Species Act (ESA) than men. The importance men and women placed on the ecological value of species conservation suggested that the American public supports continuing efforts to protect and conserve endangered species.