Gender and Animal Protection: Why Are So Many Animal Activists Women?

Social causes related to the treatment of animals appear to have special appeal to women. At animal rights demonstrations, women typically outnumber men by a ratio of three or four to one. Women are more likely than men to attribute mental states to other species, to believe that animal research is morally wrong, and to think that non-human animals should have rights. Indeed, gender has consistently been found to be the single most important factor in predicting attitudes toward animal welfare issues. This fact has not been lost on groups on both sides of the ideological fence. For example, women were the primary target of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' controversial "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" campaign. Similarly, Americans for Medical Progress, an animal research advocacy group, recently inaugurated "The Women's Health Campaign" designed to increase awareness among women of the relevance of animal research for women's heath issues. I will examine gender differences in beliefs and behaviors concerning the treatment of other species. I will also discuss the gender structure of the leadership of animal protection organizations and compare the level of female and male contributions to The Animal's Agenda, the leading animal rights periodical in the United States. Finally, possible reasons for the differential involvement of women and men in the animal rights movement will be examined from the perspectives of psychology, sociology, and statistics.