Men Consume More Meat Than Women In Numerous Countries Around The Globe, And The Discrepancy Is Even More Significant In Nations With Greater Gender Equality
A new study has shown that the rate of men’s meat consumption is higher than women’s in various countries. Researchers believe the trend is driven by people in wealthier, more developed countries having more control over their meals.
It’s already a well-known fact that men in some countries eat more meat than women. In order to gain a clearer understanding of why men tend to eat more meat than women, they decided to test if the gap would close when there was more gender equality in countries. They compared meat consumption rates across civilizations.
A team led by Christopher Hopwood, a professor of psychology at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, looked at survey data that was collected in 2021 from 20,802 individuals from 23 countries in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.
Participants reported their gender and rated their meat-based food intake frequency on a scale of one to 11. The team calculated the food consumption by average scores for categories such as beef/cow, pork/pig, and fowl.
Then, the researchers used Human Development Index (HDI) scores to rate countries based on their standards of living, health, and education.
They also utilized the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) to compare each country’s gender equality levels. Information was gathered from the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Global Gender Gap Report.
Among men in all countries except China, Indonesia, and India, meat consumption was greater than that of women. As average income levels in a nation increased, so did the frequency with which both genders ate meat.
This made sense because meat is more expensive to produce and purchase than plant-based foods. In nations with more resources, people have more opportunities to buy and eat meat.
However, a surprising discovery arose regarding gender equality. The discrepancy in meat consumption between men and women grew significantly in countries with higher levels of gender equality and human development.
Alexander Raths – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
It turns out that when men and women have the social and financial freedom to make choices about their diet, they deviate from each other even more.
Overall, men eat more meat, and women eat less. According to the researchers, the bottom line is that men and women in wealthier nations with more gender equality may follow their desires to eat more or less meat. The phenomenon seems to have more to do with men’s eating habits than women’s.
Understanding the gender differences in meat consumption across various countries can help experts learn more about cultural relationships.
The findings also have the potential to contribute to efforts to reduce people’s meat and dairy consumption. Around 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from animal-based food products.
“Anything that one could do to reduce meat consumption in men would have a greater impact, on average, than among women,” said Hopwood.
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
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