Gender, Climate Change and Consumption

Climate change is obviously closely related to consumption as the major cause, and the most prominent human behaviours causing GHG emissions are energy consumption, transport, (industrial) agriculture, and destruction of forests and wildlife habitats into land for various human purposes. In turn, climate change will increasingly impact human consumption, for example via increased energy needs, necessary changes in infrastructure construction, and rising commodity prices.

Consumption patterns differ significantly between the Global North and the Global South. In the South, questions of survival and poverty are the main focus, whereas in the North, an expanding consumer culture is evident. The production, processing, packaging and transport of food alongside with services of eating and drinking places are a major source of carbon emissions. Meat production alone accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas according to FAO data. The overconsumption of meat is a common pattern in the consumerist lifestyles of the rich nations. Other main areas of concern include housing, household and other electrical appliances, clothing and leisure-time consumption, also in regard to car use and tourism.

In the North, environmental degradation is mostly caused by over-consumption; in the South, poverty narrows the range of behavioural choices and often forces people into environmentally degrading behaviour patterns.

Gender Dimensions

Consumption and lifestyle patterns differ between women and men. This holds true for poor and rich countries and regions alike. Two major factors contribute to this: the gender division of labor and women's access to resources and material wealth. Because women tend to work closer to the home they have lesser travel expenditures. Having smaller incomes and less leisure time than men due to caregiving responsibilities, women generally consume less in comparison to man in the same geographical and social location.

Nonetheless, women play active roles in the daily consumption cycle - choosing, buying, using and disposing- both for themselves and for others. Buying is often the most dominant activity, because women are responsible for most of the shopping. However, that does not mean that they necessarily use what they buy. On the contrary, as the family managers they often buy what suits their husband and their children rather than themselves.

Not only the amount of goods and services purchsed differ, but women also have a greater tendency to make sustainable consumption choices, e. g. eating less meat, or a showing preference for organic food. There is also strong evidence of a greater awareness of women for the crucial role of lifestyle changes in combatting climate change, whereas men hang on to technological solutions.

In empirical studies on environmental awareness and behaviour in industrialised countries, clear gender differences have been detected repeatedly: Women tend to have a higher environmental awareness than men (repeatedly shown for Germany, also other OECD countries, Finland, Japan); Women show a higher engagement and a greater willingness to act to preserve the environment; Women are more sceptical regarding new technologies and their potential impacts and risks; Women act in a more environmentally friendly manner (shown for Germany, Finland, Sweden), e.g.: they buy more environmentally sound products; they eat less meat; their mobility behaviour is less environmentally harmful: they drive cars less often, they walk more and use public transport more often than men.

Response

Studies have shown that men and women consume differently, and these differences are based on division of tasks, rights and responsibilities along sexual lines. To gain a more accurate picture of household consumption it is necessary to understand the differences: who does what work, who makes which decisions, who uses resources for what purposes, who controls resources, who is responsible for different family obligations.

To gain a more complete and realistic picture of issues on sustainable consumption it is important to integrate a gender perspective in further research:

• Generating gender disaggregated databases, gender sensitive indicators and availability of country-based analyses
• Conducting surveys in gender-specific environmental motivation and behaviour in more detail and in different areas
• Examining which factors contribute to consumer awareness and behaviour; Supporting the development of gender-sensitive strategies for sustainable consumption in order not to increase women’s workload
• Conducting research on consumption patterns of female headed households – since the number of these households are growing – and compare life-styles to the nuclear or other forms of families.