Challenging the common perceptions that men are more scientifically-literate than women, a new study has interestingly revealed that women not only have a better understanding of science than men, but are also more likely to heed the expert view that man-made global warming is an undisputable fact.
The study, which is one of the first studies to focus in-depth on how the genders think about climate change, has been published in the September issue of the journal Population and Environment.
Noting that “men still claim they have a better understanding of global warming than women, even though women’s beliefs align much more closely with the scientific consensus,” sociologist Aaron McCright of Michigan State University said the study also reveals that “women underestimate their scientific knowledge – a troubling pattern that inhibits many young women from pursuing scientific careers.”
McCright based the findings on a comprehensive analysis of eight years of data from Gallup’s annual environment poll, which essentially gauged people’s knowledge of climate change. As per McCright, women, by and large, are more likely than men to have knowledge of and agree with current scientific thinking.
With the study highlighting that men and women think differently about climate change, McCright remarked that scientists or policymakers should keep in mind the findings of the study “rather than treating the public as one big monolithic audience,” when they “are communicating about climate change with the general public.”
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