Gender and Age Effects on Public Attitudes to, and Knowledge of, Animal Welfare in China

Abstract

A person’s gender and age can influence their attitudes towards animal welfare, with more benign attitudes generally ascribed to women. Given that attitudes influence consumer behaviour and the rapid recent social development in China (globally the biggest livestock producer), we surveyed over 1300 individuals across China to elucidate the role of gender and age in determining attitudes towards animals. Respondents self-identified their gender as male, female, other or not revealed. There were interactions between age and gender for many of the survey items, demonstrating that the effects of gender were dependent on the respondents’ age. Women aged 18–24 reported more benign attitudes towards animals than older men (aged between 25 and 54 years, depending on the survey question) and more empathetic responses were found in young respondents generally, although this did not necessarily translate into a willingness to pay more for higher-welfare animal products. We propose, drawing on Social Identity Theory, that women see animals as part of their social group, whereas men tend not to do this. Those responding as neither male nor female, i.e., as another gender, and those not revealing their gender appeared to have different relationships to animals than those responding as men or women. It is concluded that within Chinese culture, attitudes towards animals and their welfare are complex and influenced by an interaction between gender and age.

Factors influencing Chinese public attitudes toward farm animal welfare

“…With urbanization, there has been a considerable social and spatial distance between the public and animal husbandry, and there is a lot of scope to improve Chinese attitudes toward farm animal welfare (You et al, 2014 ; Carnovale et al, 2021 ). Furthermore, a number of factors have been found to influence attitudes, which are dominated by demographic characteristics such as gender, age, education, income, area of residence, and occupation (You et al, 2014 ; Su and Martens, 2017 ; Carnovale et al, 2022 ). Previous studies on public attitudes toward farm animal welfare (whether in China or elsewhere) have considered attitude as a whole concept.…”

Use of “demonstration farm” videos to affect attitude change toward animal welfare on beef, egg, and fish farms in China

“…Younger participants generally showed more intention and confidence toward improving animal welfare and had more confidence in their coworkers' intentions and support. Younger generations may be more aware of concepts around animal welfare and aligning results have been found in surveys of the general public in China (Carnovale et al, 2022) as well as the farming community (Mazas et al, 2013) and may be more adaptable to change (Trewartha et al, 2011).…”

“…Men were less satisfied with welfare standards in their own workplace but women had greater intentions to improve animal welfare and more confidence that colleagues would support them in improving welfare. Previous research suggests women (Carnovale et al, 2022) typically show more support for animal welfare than men. However, gender differences may arise in communication style as men are considered less likely to use complimentary language (Duan and Guo, 2009), possibly explaining their lower expressed satisfaction with conditions on their farm.…”

“…Despite the perceived product expense, this did not translate into perceived product quality, with less than half of participants believing the product quality would be better than their own farms. This may be a reflection of confidence/ knowledge of their own products or they may be less convinced that farming approaches and animal welfare standards impact product quality, although previous surveys in China have suggested strong perceived links in the general public between animal welfare and product quality/safety (Carnovale et al, 2022;Liang et al, 2022). Participants with higher education may have more knowledge about the relationship between animal welfare and product quality (You et al, 2014); however, in this study, university graduates were not significantly different from school-educated participants and only participants with technical college backgrounds rated product quality more highly.…”

Beef Cattle Farming Strategy in Baluran National Park

“…Women's roles in cattle farming are crucial, so they need to be trained to maximize cattle farming management in the use of labor efficiently. Carnovale et al (2022) state that gender and age might affect their attitude toward animal welfare, so women's approach to cattle farming management would be softer than men's.…”