Gender differences in environmental related behaviour

Abstract

This report discusses gender differences in the data collected in the OECD\nhousehold survey on environmental behaviour. The survey asked a sample of\n10 000 respondents from 10 countries (Norway, Sweden, Canada, France, Italy, the\nNetherlands, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Australia and Korea) concerning\nhousehold behaviour with respect to five areas: recycling, energy and water saving,\norganic food consumption and transportation. This report identifies and describes\ngender differences in behaviour, in underlying preferences and in household\ncharacteristics in this data. We use regression analyses to identify and test for\nsignificant gender differences in preferences, and we use differences in means to\ntest for gender differences in background variables and the total effect of gender on\nbehaviour.\nIn our estimations, where we test for significant gender differences in preferences,\nwe find many significant differences with respect to several of the explanatory\nvariables affecting behaviour. However, there was no clear pattern for most of\nthese gender differences. The only systematic gender difference we found in the\nestimations was that the belief that they can actually contribute to a better environment\nseems to be a more important motivator for environmental friendly behaviour for men\nthan it is for women. There are also many significant differences between the\ngenders in the distribution of key background variables, in particular with respect\nto income, car ownership, participation in the workforce, education and choice of\nresidence. ____________Denne rapporten diskuterer kjønnsforskjeller i et datasett samlet inn på et OECDprosjekt\nom miljøvennlig atferd i husholdningene. Undersøkelsen omfattet 10 000\nrespondenter fra 10 ulike OECD-land (Norge, Sverige, Canada, Frankrike, Italia,\nNederland, Tsjekkia, Mexico, Australia og Korea), og kartla miljørelatert\nhusholdningsatferd for fem områder: Resirkulering, energi- og vannsparingstiltak,\nkonsum av økologiske matvarer og transport. Målet med denne rapporten er å\nidentifisere og beskrive kjønnsforskjeller i atferden, underliggende preferanser og\nviktige bakgrunnsvariable i dataene. Vi bruker regresjonsanalyser for å identifisere\nog teste for kjønnsforskjeller i preferansene, og en sammenligning av gjennomsnitt\nog fordeling for å teste for kjønnsforskjeller i bakgrunnsvariable og atferd.