Gender Differences in Public Understanding of Climate Change

The report identifies a gender gap in the U.S. where women generally exhibit higher levels of concern and risk perception regarding climate change than men, despite scoring lower on tests of scientific knowledge and expressing greater uncertainty about climate facts. It argues that closing these knowledge gaps through targeted education is essential, as women are often more vulnerable to climate impacts and are key to implementing global climate solutions.

• Women in the U.S. generally have higher risk perceptions and stronger pro-climate beliefs than men, including a greater likelihood of worrying about global warming and supporting policies such as regulating CO2 as a pollutant and setting strict CO2 limits on coal power plants.
• Despite higher risk perceptions, women score lower than men on scientific knowledge tests regarding climate change, are more likely to express uncertainty (answering "don't know") on various factors contributing to global warming, and are less likely to believe that most scientists are convinced global warming is happening.
• Women are more vulnerable to climate-related problems globally and nationally; for example, U.N. data indicates women comprise 80% of people displaced by climate change globally, and in the U.S., 83% of low-income, single mothers did not return to their homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
• Improving the education of women and girls is ranked as the 6th most effective solution among 100 identified substantive climate solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, ranking above increased solar energy generation.

APA

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2018). Gender Differences in Public Understanding of Climate Change. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/gender-differences-in-public-understanding-of-climate-change/

Chicago

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Gender Differences in Public Understanding of Climate Change. 2018. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/gender-differences-in-public-understanding-of-climate-change/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |title=Gender Differences in Public Understanding of Climate Change |date=19 November 2018 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/gender-differences-in-public-understanding-of-climate-change/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaleprogramonclimatechangecommunication2018gender, author = {{Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}}, title = {{Gender Differences in Public Understanding of Climate Change}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2018}, month = nov, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/gender-differences-in-public-understanding-of-climate-change/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }