Gender differences in the perceptions of wildlife management objectives and priorities in Australasia
Kelly K. Miller A C and Darryl N. Jones BA School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Vic. 3125, Australia.
B Australian School of Environmental Studies, Griffith University, Nathan, Qld 4111, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: kelly.miller@deakin.edu.au
Wildlife Research 33(2) 155-159 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR05036
Submitted: 20 April 2005 Accepted: 9 February 2006 Published: 12 April 2006
Abstract
It is now well established that men and women often differ significantly in their attitudes and responses to workplace situations, challenges and policies. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of gender on perceptions and priorities held by Australasian wildlife managers. Data were collected via a questionnaire distributed during December 2002 – February 2003 to members of the Australasian Wildlife Management Society (AWMS) and registrants of the 2002 AWMS annual conference. The results show that there are now significantly more female AWMS members than there were in the early 1990s, a possible indication of a change in the wider wildlife management profession in Australasia. Consistent with previous research, male respondents held different views from female respondents about wildlife and wildlife management. In particular, male respondents were significantly more likely to express the ‘management/consumptive use of wildlife’ perspective than female respondents. Interestingly, this gap was observed only in the 18–30-year age category. The paper examines what these differences might mean for the future of wildlife management in Australasia.
Acknowledgments
We thank the School of Life and Environmental Sciences (formerly the School of Ecology and Environment) at Deakin University for funding this study. Thanks go to the Australasian Wildlife Management Society, in particular Professor Mike Braysher, for the distribution of questionnaires at the 2002 AWMS conference and supply of 2005 membership statistics, Dr Jim Hone for supplying gender profile data from 1991, and Dr Andrea Byrom for her comments on the draft manuscript. We also thank Dr Jody Enck from the Human Dimensions Research Unit at Cornell University for supplying a copy of the questionnaire used in The Wildlife Society survey. Finally, we sincerely thank all those who completed the questionnaires.
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