Divergence in opinions men and women hold

[Bootstrap]

Wife: Unless these ladies were actively campaigning against nuclear energy, is there some reason they should know? The vast majority of my theologically conservative friends don’t know what’s going on in the news and might not be able to explain a bunch of scientific or other technical stuff, are less likely to get involved in debates about politics or policy, but they do know a lot of practical things that have a lot more use in their life, are generally good students, and have a lot more common sense than me in some areas even if I might have more book learning and know what rock paper scissors is.

Edit: just being honest, I wouldn’t have actually been able to say one way or another if it caused any carbon emissions, I would just assume less than the other ones because it’s ‘clean energy.’ It’s not a subject that I feel dramatically affects my life if I’m well read up on it or not.

I was focusing on the people who says they do know as opposed to the people who said they don’t know.

In the context of a survey that asks people to offer opinions on a wide range of things they probably don't know that much about. Most of the questions are straight-up opinion questions like:

- “Is nuclear energy safe?”
- “Is it good or bad for the environment?”
- “Would you support building a plant nearby?”

One of them is a more factual question, offered in the midst of a stream of opinion questions. That framing matters, it affects results.

And I wouldn't generalize from that to make broad pronouncements about women and what they know and how they inform themselves before voting. I doubt that most people, male or female, vote primarily based on objective fact.

[ken_sylvania]

31% of women said they do not believe that nuclear power plants are low or no carbon.

Here is the detailed data:

Answers of women / men:

No carbon: 7% / 25% (this is the correct answer according to mainstream science)
Low carbon emissions: 43% / 24%

Moderate carbon emissions: 14% / 17%
High carbon emissions: 12% / 13%

Don't know: 31% / 11%

Sum of no/low carbon answers: 68% / 31% (correct answer)
sum of moderate/high carbon answers: 22% / 38% (wrong answer)

68% of men knew the correct answer, 22% were wrong, and 11% said they didn't know.

31% of women knew the correct answer, 38% were wrong, and 31% said they didn't know.

What I originally stated still stands: women are simply mis-informed on this issue, and seem to be operating from a different set of facts as compared to men. This did not used to be a case, and presents a major problem to, for example, public policy, since women would presumably choose candidates that present a scientifically bogus point of view.

According to the detailed data you list above, the percentage of women who gave the correct answer was more than double the percentage of men who gave the correct answer. And the men were wrong much more often than the women.

So not sure if you consider yourself a man or a woman, but you've got something majorly wrong!

[ken_sylvania]

Wife: Unless these ladies were actively campaigning against nuclear energy, is there some reason they should know? The vast majority of my theologically conservative friends don’t know what’s going on in the news and might not be able to explain a bunch of scientific or other technical stuff, are less likely to get involved in debates about politics or policy, but they do know a lot of practical things that have a lot more use in their life, are generally good students, and have a lot more common sense than me in some areas even if I might have more book learning and know what rock paper scissors is.

Edit: just being honest, I wouldn’t have actually been able to say one way or another if it caused any carbon emissions, I would just assume less than the other ones because it’s ‘clean energy.’ It’s not a subject that I feel dramatically affects my life if I’m well read up on it or not.

I was focusing on the people who says they do know as opposed to the people who said they don’t know.

If so, then your percentages are off.

[JohnH]

According to the detailed data you list above, the percentage of women who gave the correct answer was more than double the percentage of men who gave the correct answer. And the men were wrong much more often than the women.

So not sure if you consider yourself a man or a woman, but you've got something majorly wrong!

I mistranscribed two of them in that list. If it's important to you, I can update it.

[Bootstrap]

68% of men knew the correct answer, 22% were wrong, and 11% said they didn't know.

31% of women knew the correct answer, 38% were wrong, and 31% said they didn't know.

A question the poll doesn't help us answer: how many of the men who answered confidently actually understand the science and know? And how many of the women who answered "I don't know" probably do know, but hesitate to say so if they cannot quickly remember the science and verify it for themselves?

If you want to apply this to voting, I would also ask how men and women prepare themselves to vote with respect to issues they care about. Are nuclear power plants a top 10 issue for most voters? Are they an important part of the political platforms in elections? Seems like a more focused study on this kind of question would be important if we want to answer that kind of question.

[Bootstrap]

I mistranscribed two of them in that list. If it's important to you, I can update it.

In the original post, you reached conclusions that the data does not support.

And claimed that's what women do, but men don't. I suspect the conclusion was driven by pre-existing stereotypes you have about men and women, it certainly isn't what the data says. I don't know how carefully you looked at the data before posting.

[JohnH]

A question the poll doesn't help us answer: how many of the men who answered confidently actually understand the science and know?

Does it really matter? You seem to be arguing that people who accept mainstream science and hold the correct view on something (such as that nuclear power plants don't result in increased carbon emissions) somehow actually still don't have the right opinion unless they can explain it in depth or something. I don't agree with that.

And how many of the women who answered "I don't know" probably do know, but hesitate to say so if they cannot quickly remember the science and verify it for themselves?

I ignored the "Don't know" responses and instead just looked at the people who responded yes or no.

If you want to apply this to voting, I would also ask how men and women prepare themselves to vote with respect to issues they care about. Are nuclear power plants a top 10 issue for most voters? Are they an important part of the political platforms in elections? Seems like a more focused study on this kind of question would be important if we want to answer that kind of question.

I think we can agree that climate change, energy costs / energy policy, and carbon emissions are important issues for voters. If we have half of the voting public who thinks nuclear power plants are going to contribute to CO2-caused climate change, that's a pretty big problem, isn't it?

[ken_sylvania]

According to the detailed data you list above, the percentage of women who gave the correct answer was more than double the percentage of men who gave the correct answer. And the men were wrong much more often than the women.

So not sure if you consider yourself a man or a woman, but you've got something majorly wrong!

I mistranscribed two of them in that list. If it's important to you, I can update it.

Not at all important to me. I know plenty of women who are able to summarize and record data accurately even if you can't.

[JohnH]

Not at all important to me. I know plenty of women who are able to summarize and record data accurately even if you can't.

So do I. The point of this thread was to discuss a general trend, particularly the divergence, as men and women's opinions did not used to have this far of a gap between them.

[Soloist]

Not at all important to me. I know plenty of women who are able to summarize and record data accurately even if you can't.

So do I. The point of this thread was to discuss a general trend, particularly the divergence, as men and women's opinions did not used to have this far of a gap between them.

Wife: I finally got around to looking at the survey, and it also seems to affiliate with political parties. there probably is some link to women being more likely to join certain parties than others.

I just don’t know who would say, “I don’t want nuclear power plants because they will increase our carbon footprint.” Most people would probably be more worried about cancer or birth defects. They might have greatly improved safety from what it previously was, but people are still going to be cautious, and I don’t think the government or any corporations are capable of 100% safety assurance.
I wonder how it would differ in the United States, because it seems like more conservatives around here actually are getting crunchy and doubting mainstream science. just thinking about other mainstream science issues like vaccines, gmo, beef tallow ect. There might be a higher population of women concerned about those things than men; I don’t know. I feel like I’ve seen a more organic mindset to a point with liberal and conservative women vs their husbands, and maybe another part is that they might be thinking more of reproductive risks.

Edited for grammar