Don’t be a gender blender.

Women and men have very different environmental concerns.   Women tend to be naturally closer to nature because of child bearing and other reproductive functions.  Women are also traditionally the nurtures, healers and gathers.   They are 15% more likely to rate the environment a high priority and represent two-thirds of the voters who cast their ballots around environmental issues and support increase government spending for the environment.

Men on the other hand tend to focus on environmentalism as energy independence.   The solution to our addiction to oil is the advancement of technology – solar, wind power, biomass.  For men, global warming is primarily a tech issue.  For women, it’s mostly a personal issue.   

Journalist Thomas L. Friedman in a cover story for the New York Times wrote that America should redefine green to make it more “muscular” and transform its characterization by opponents as “sissy,” “girlie-man,” and “vaguely French.”   He said, “Green isn’t some ‘wussy’ tree-hugging thing.  Green is patriotic.  Green is strategic.  Green is the new red, white, and blue.”

Four decades ago, Rachael Carson, the “mother of the environmental movement” wrote that “we’re challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves.” 

These differences have significant impact on the focus of your green message.   Don’t just know what you’re marketing, know what you’re offering and who it appeals to.   

The bottom line is all of us have both feminine and masculine qualities in us.   Smart green marketers recognize this and know how to craft their message to skillfully keep the balance.     

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