And a survey of research by investigators at Stanford, Ohio State University and the Associated Press found women perceived greater vulnerability to risks and were more willing to pay higher income taxes and gasoline prices to protect the environment.

Most men have to commute further to work than women and their preferred mode of transportation is the automobile. So they put in more kilometres behind the wheel than women. Women still travel more often by public transport even though gender differences have narrowed in the past years.

Women are simply more environmentally friendly than men. This has been shown by Swedish researchers in an analysis of a number of studies.

The researchers also mention a study showing that Norwegian men travel further than women, as they do elsewhere in Europe – a pattern seen for decades. 

Some of the studies in the meta-analysis show that women are more positive than men to rush-hour taxes, lower speed limits and more generous allocations to public transport – busses, trams, subways and trains.

The Swedish researchers also calculated how much carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced if Swedish men followed the lead of Swedish women.

Women’s share of CO2 discharges from transportation tallies to 70 percent of those by men. However, this is mainly because on average they have jobs that are closer to home.

Dominance of the automobile

One of the researchers behind the Swedish study says to Lund University’s magazine that society would be affected if women were better represented in such governing and influential bodies.

“We would see more traffic solutions which promote walking, bicycling and use of public transportation,” says researchers. Nevertheless, the Swedish researchers concede that if more women worked with transport solutions there is no guarantee that they would make different choices than men. They write that improving conditions for automobile traffic remains a strong norm in the transport sector.

Source: sciencenordic.com; articles.latimes.com