Men tend to eat meat more often than women, study suggests

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Higher levels of gender equality and development might mean women have more freedom to ditch meat, while it may also enable men to purchase and eat meat more often, researchers say. The novel finding from our study is that the gender difference in meat consumption is larger in countries with higher levels of economic and human development and greater gender equality Professor Christopher Hopwood Christopher Hopwood, from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, corresponding author, said: “The novel finding from our study is that the gender difference in meat consumption is larger in countries with higher levels of economic and human development and greater gender equality. “Instead, our findings suggest that in contexts in which men and women are freer to exercise greater choice because of higher financial flexibility and weaker gender norms, differences between genders may be more likely to emerge.” The study found that with the exception of China, India and Indonesia, men tended to eat meat more frequently than women. “At the individual level, it may be possible to tailor appeals based on individual characteristics such as gender.” In the study, published in Scientific Reports, the researchers investigated differences in meat consumption between men and women across countries with differing levels of social and economic development, which was measured by life expectancy, years of schooling, and gross national income, and gender equality – as measured by economic participation, education levels, political empowerment, and health and survival.