Study: Who Eats More Meat – Men or Women?

Men and women eat different amounts of meat, and the difference in diets grows with the level of development of countries.

Generally, in more developed countries, men eat more meat than women, a study found. published in the scientific journal Nature Scientific Reports.

Purpose and methodology of the study

Scientists admit that the influence of social norms or evolutionary bias may explain this difference. They studied the results of a survey of more than 28 thousand people in 23 countries on four continents, writes Associated Press to calculate the difference in meat consumption by gender.

The analysis shows that when women and men have the social and financial freedom to make dietary choices, their eating habits become increasingly different. During the study, scientists took into account the UN Human Development Index, which describes health, education and living standards, as well as the global gender gap index of the World Economic Forum.

With the exception of China, India and Indonesia, differences in the amount of meat consumed by the sexes were greater in countries with higher levels of development and gender equality. And although scientists have not specifically studied the reasons for this, they nevertheless have assumptions.

Evolutionary propensity

Researchers suggest that hormonal characteristics of women forced them to avoid potentially contaminated meat during pregnancy to protect the fetus. At the same time, men, fulfilling the role of hunters in some societies, on the contrary, looked for meat proteins.

Social norms

Daniel Rosenfeld, a social psychologist from the University of California at Los Angeles (USA), argues that social norms shape gender identity from early childhoodso they are capable of influencing the fullness of the plate.

The society provides cultural pressure on menso that they do not refuse meat, this also includes the popular idea that cooking meat is a man’s job.

Cultural factors also influence how people react to new information. According to Caroline Sammler, a professor of psychology at the University of Adelaide in Australia, who was not involved in the work, women are more likely to reduce their consumption of animal products after learning about animal cruelty. At the same time, men are more likely to choose to resist, she says, recounting her earlier investigation: “One participant told me, 'I think you're trying to get me to eat less meat, so I'll eat more.'

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