Sustainable Development, Energy Transition, and Climate Challenges in the Context of Gender: The Framework of Gender Determinants of Environmental Orientation in Poland

Abstract

How does gender affect attitudes towards ecology? This question is of particular interest in a society where conservative and populist power elites perceive the concepts of “gender” and “ecology” as manifestations of “foreign” cultural influences. In turn, the dependence of the Polish energy system on coal forces us to look for various social factors that may support energy transition and the principles of sustainable development. The article outlines the results of computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) research on a representative sample of Polish society composed of 1.001 people and analyses the gender differentiation of attitudes towards the policy of sustainable development in Poland. The results presented in this article clearly show that women in Poland constitute an important support for ecological activities and energy transition. This is also the case with the entire progressive vision of politics: Women have become its main driver and an opportunity for change.