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How Gender Influences the Motivation and Action Towards Climate Change: A Qualitative Study of Participants from a UK Construction Company

Author

Listed:
  • Fenella Ross

    (Laing O’Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FA, UK)

  • Campbell Middleton

    (Laing O’Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FA, UK)

  • Olivia Remes

    (Laing O’Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FA, UK)

Abstract

Climate change will lead to widespread adverse global impacts on nature, people and economies. The importance of gender in tackling climate change is becoming increasingly evident, with the Paris Agreement highlighting this. According to the evidence base, women typically show higher levels of concern and action towards climate change within the general public, within politics and on company boards. However, few studies have investigated the influence of gender on climate concerns and action within the workforce. The construction industry is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases; therefore, this is a key sector to focus on with respect to decarbonisation. Simultaneously, construction is dominated by men and has significant gender inequity issues. Given the importance of including women in climate change decisions, it is important to assess construction employees’ knowledge and awareness regarding this key issue. Quota and snowball sampling techniques were used to recruit UK-based participants ( n = 30) from a large engineering/construction company to explore the perceived concern, importance and action towards climate change, and qualitative analysis using NVivo 14 software was employed to identify key themes. This qualitative work provides initial important insights for an industry with one of the largest carbon footprints in the world and that also reports significant gender inequities.

Suggested Citation

  • Fenella Ross & Campbell Middleton & Olivia Remes, 2024. "How Gender Influences the Motivation and Action Towards Climate Change: A Qualitative Study of Participants from a UK Construction Company," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jchals:v:16:y:2024:i:1:p:3-:d:1557575
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gambacorta, Leonardo & Pancotto, Livia & Reghezza, Alessio & Spaggiari, Martina, 2022. "Gender diversity in bank boardrooms and green lending: evidence from euro area credit register data," Working Paper Series 2741, European Central Bank.
    2. Walid Ben-Amar & Millicent Chang & Philip McIlkenny, 2017. "Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Response to Sustainability Initiatives: Evidence from the Carbon Disclosure Project," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 369-383, May.
    3. Seol A. Kwon, 2022. "Where Does an Individual’s Willingness to Act on Alleviating the Climate Crisis in Korea Arise from?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-17, May.
    4. Nurshahirah Abd Majid & Amar Hisham Jaaffar, 2023. "The Effect of Women’s Leadership on Carbon Disclosure by the Top 100 Global Energy Leaders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-26, May.
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