Judy Lowe's "Diggin' It" blog (2008), at the Christian Science Monitor asks "Do men and women garden differently?" Lowe suggests that "more men than women seem to be interested in growing dahlias the size of dinner plates, and more women than men love herbs." Gardening blogger "Stuart" (2008) seems to lean the other way, saying that women garden-bloggers post photos of their flowers while men tend to discuss "GM crops, eradication of pests and their beloved veggie patch with the optimistic giant pumpkin sheltered in the background".
Men and women seem to report similar amounts of time in their gardens: according to a UK poll, men who garden report a slightly higher number of hours worked per week than women: six instead of five and a half (BBC, 2000). The same poll found that 65% of women and 49% of men felt they "claimed they toiled harder on the soil" (than the opposite sex, one assumes). A story in the Independent (2000) reports that Neave and Pickering found that women were better at men than identifying garden plants, getting 4/6 correct compared to the men's average of 3/6. Neave et al (2005) later reported similar results as evidence of an advantage for women in object identification within an array.
True story: last night I was making a list of potential DBlog topics on the ride home from work, and when I started to Google them this morning, I was shocked to find that Lowe covered "gardening" yesterday. I'd been thinking about it because I always think of gardening as a feminine pursuit, but my friends who garden are all men. In fairness, I think that most of my friends are men; there are female gardeners among my coworkers. I'd say there's an even split between those who grow to eat and those who grow to show off. I'm reminded of the comparison between show-off male chefs and comforting female cooks (11/21/07)
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About Me
- Dan4th
- ex-activist, ex-pagan, ex-vegetarian, ex-female, post-queer blogging addict. B.S. in theatre, studying for Master's in Psych. Day job in research administration.
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4 comments:
hrafn
2008-11-07 03:49 pm UTC (link) Track This
Both my parents grow plants, but with my mom, it is definitely gardening. Digging up big plots of soil, planting crops (and some flower beds, but those seem pretty self-sustaining compared to veggies), tending them, etc. My dad, while he has long-standing interests plants, seems to treat his plants more like pets (Mom referred to one of his cacti as a "pet"), or perhaps interesting experiments. He has a bunch of orchids, and the little cactus, and some things he's planted outside, but I wouldn't call what he does "gardening" at all.
So among (self-identified?) "gardeners" in the UK, men spend slightly more time gardening than women.
What I'd like to see is a survey of the general population of the US, not just "gardeners," of how much time men vs. women spend gardening.
I certainly think that would be more valid, but I don't know that one has been done.
Additionally, I'd like to see whether men or women are more likely to lump other yard-work activities into their "hours spent gardening". Would women say "I spent 2 hours gardening and 4 hours mowing and raking the lawn?" Would men say "Yeah, I spent 6 hours in the garden" for the same work?
Cause, I'd totally lump them together.
I'm really interested in the plant (/object) identification differences. Do you know of any other studies that have been done along those lines?
I'd love to know if there's been any research into whether things like (apparently) gender-related plant identification ability is cultural or innate. Fascinating.
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