Gender attitude towards environmental protection: a comparative survey during COVID-19 lockdown situation

Abstract

Attitude towards environmental protection is a crucial component in environmental safeguard psychology. It is a psychological tendency expressed by evaluating the environmental gender attitude with favour or disfavour. This study aimed to compare the attitude level of male and female trainees towards environmental protection based on personal, psychological and sociocultural variables by using an ex post facto research design. The research population was composed of the trainees ( N =177) who participated in the online training programmes organized from April 07 to May 31, 2020, by the Centre for Advanced Agricultural Science and Technology (CAAST) for Climate Smart Agriculture and Water Management (CSAWM), MPKV, Rahuri, Maharashtra, during COVID-19 lockdown period. In this study, an online survey method was used. The research instrument was a well-designed and structured online questionnaire using a Google Form consisting of two sections. The first section consisted of 11 independent variables of personal, psychological and sociocultural characteristics. The second section consisted of 17 environmental attitude questions focusing on closed structure questions with a five-point Likert scale, i.e. Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. The results revealed that age, training received, membership of environmental societies or organizations, courses taught, waste management and social media use significantly affect the trainees’ attitudes to environment protection. The female respondents had a favourable environmental attitude when compared with the male respondents. Therefore, the study concluded that a set of factors influences the gender attitude of the online trainees. These factors alone cannot change trainees’ attitudes towards environmental protection. Accordingly, necessary and appropriate conditions should be provided to change the attitude of male trainees for environmental protection. Sustained support is necessary to efficiently understand the role of gender in environment protection through government policies, social media, policymakers, scientists, extension workers, research organizations, various training programmes, participation of students and faculty in the environmental cleanliness drive and awareness programs, etc.

Sustainable energy transition and circular economy: The heterogeneity of potential investors in rural community renewable energy projects

“…The results do not clarify much about the conclusions reached in previous studies showing that investment in RE and CRE is more likely among men than among women (Broughel & Hampl, 2018;Fraune, 2015). Gender is not significant in this study, in line with Dhenge et al's (2022) conclusion that gender attitudes toward environmental protection are simultaneously influenced by other personal characteristics and by exogenous factors. Anyway, it is remarkable that the "CRE sceptics" and "CRE enthusiasts" clusters, with a bigger concentration of women, show a lower expected return than the "yield investors" cluster, mainly made up of men.…”

“…Higher education and income levels are found to positively relate to a higher WTI (Broughel & Hampl, 2018;Koirala et al, 2018;Salm et al, 2016). Regarding gender, most studies find that males predominate among current (Fleiß et al, 2017;Fraune, 2015) or potential (Broughel & Hampl, 2018) investors, despite some works pointing at the finding of lower environmental concern among the male population (Dhenge et al, 2022). Finally, previous literature supports that older people are more likely to engage in CRE (Fleiß et al, 2017).…”

Determinants of household waste disposal practices and implications for practical community interventions: lessons from Lilongwe

“…This finding is consistent with recent studies conducted in Ghana, Indonesia, and Ethiopia [20,31,32]. Studies have indicated that women have modestly stronger pro-environmental values than men [33][34][35]. In Korea, it was observed that pro-environmental behaviors among females are affected by their lifestyles and social norms [36].…”

The environmental attitude of the prospective biology teachers in Indonesia

“…The results of this study are in line with Bord and O'Connor (1997) that there is no consensus on the reasons of gender differences related to EA. Considering that gender roles have no effect, men and women have equal status and roles in environmental protection; thus, Dhenge et al (2022) asserted that continuous assistance is required to effectively understand gender roles in environmental protection. Consequently, social media campaigns, government policies, and the involvement of groups such as scientists, extension officers, research organizations, various training programs, students, and universities in environmental protection movements and awareness campaigns are all needed.…”

“…This research will also be the basis for policy makers in schools and universities in implementing various environmental education programs. According to Dhenge et al (2022), EA is an important component in environmental protection psychology. This study tries to determine the environmental attitudes of prospective biology teachers throughout Indonesia.…”