Green Gender Gap? Maybe...Maybe Not

Remember my recommending Sharon Astyk's post about Peak Oil? There was link at the bottom to a provocative conversation at Crunchy Chicken which sparked Sharon to write.

The upshot of what Crunchy as saying was that there may be a difference in how men and women discuss...and address...peak oil issues/forecasts, with women taking on the more practical "we can address it" approach.

Now the National Post has picked up the meme and run with it: The Green Gender Gap

Kinda cool, huh? I love it! We need this kind of conversation!

As for me, I've thought a lot about the notion and while I think there may be some there there to Crunchy's theory...it's certainly an interesting premise...I'm now willing to venture out on a limb and say it's not simply a case of differences between men and women. It is, I think, a matter of differences in personality type. Yup, the green personality gap.

Ever taken the Myers-Briggs test? It's a really useful tool. If you have, then you know that there are different combinations of variables that shape how we act and react to life's ups and downs. It's often used in counseling practices and in college/school advising situations, which is where I first encountered it professionally. 

Whenever I find myself thinking about gender differences, I always  wind up in the Myers-Briggs stuff. That's because it's there I can find reasons why, for example, the men that I know IRL  tend to take the more "let's not get bent out of shape but prepare because it's smart to do so" approach...the very kind of thing that Sharon and other women bloggers are saying.

Is this really a case of the "squeaky wheel" and the grease...more assertive types talking about it publicly because it's in their nature to do so? And because, for whatever social reasons, it's more acceptable for men to talk assertively about energy and math and science in stuff, they feel freer to weigh in and dominate the conversation? When it comes to male and female public intellectuals (and I'd put all the Peak Oil folks in this category), you don't get your point across by being a shrinking violet, you know?

And then there's Al Gore...We Can Solve It? He talks about a number of looming crises with an upbeat, thoughtful approach. And, hey, if you caught that famous kiss at the 2000 convention, can you question his manhood? (Kidding...)

On NPR a few weeks back (can't remember which show, alas), they had a psych researcher who'd done some research and found that the whole "Men are From Mars/Women Are From Venus" thing even applies to homosexual couples. It's a matter of of the roles that we agree to take on (or default to from personality or programming) when we enter into relationships. 

And while I definitely think there are societal pressures/expectations that can have manifest themselves in gender-based differences, I happen to believe that it's too simplistic to boil it all down to women v. men in any given situation. 

We fall right back into over-generalizations and stereotyping, you know? Not good.

But the "green gender gap" is certainly a provocative hypothesis...and it's really gratifying to hear people talk about this stuff. Which is why I want to close with these great paragraphs from the National Post's article:

However, there's no question that the majority of women writing about peak oil are considerably more focused on what we can do now to make life better, not just what we may have to do at some point down the road.

Even if nothing happens -- if the polar ice caps cease to melt, the smog in Beijing just disappears one day and endangered species begin multiplying in vast numbers -- it hardly means all that tomato-canning and cycling to work was a waste of time.

Hmmm...whaddaya think?

Update: 

• The Green Age & Gender Gap (US News & World Report, 6 July 2008)