My last post opened with “Remember the ladies,” a quote from an appeal for powerless women more than three centuries ago. Now I’m saying, “Join the ladies” — or better yet, “Join
the women who seem to significantly outnumber men in the animal advocacy field.”
Although a much longer sentence, it comes down to this: are men as scarce as they seem to be in animal
welfare endeavors? Oh sure, men head up
both the national HSUS and ASPCA organizations, as well as NJ’s state chapter .
. . .
virtually all levels. Think Angi
Metler and Janine Motta, executive director and programs director of the Animal Protection League of NJ, our Jersey-born statewide organization. Both undisputed leaders,
they’re also down in the trenches, working every day for animals, and have
been doing so for years.
 |
| Metler |
Now think of rescue groups you know and count how many men are
regularly involved, doing the scut work as well as the higher-profile
stuff.
in the minority? Why aren’t they equally
involved in animal welfare — doing the same thing, in numbers, that women all
over seem to be doing : cleaning cages, transporting, fostering, writing
letters, demonstrating . . . ?!
supporting families, etc., but, hello! women also fill the workforce. Could the reason be the old stereotype about
women being more nurturing and more interested in relationships than in visibility
and power (long assumed to be men’s goals)?
 |
| Motta |
Could they feel that hands-on work for animals is a low-status role? (Think too of home health-care aides.) And/or, animal welfare can have to do with reading
and expressing feelings, and downright dirty work — cleaning cages comes to
mind. It has to do with building
cooperative relationships, then nurturing them — an area usually connected with
women, although in this case, I think the stereotype is more correct than not.
Further, at least before they’re career-secure, men seem to need to be
competitive, to at least talk money
and manipulation. Of the few men I’ve
encountered in the animal welfare field, most are mature men who have already
proven themselves in the “real world” or they were anomalies in
animal welfare who made early progress and achieved executive positions there.
ways that men advocate for animals. Just
think: Peter Singer and the numerous writers since who have followed in his Animal Liberation footsteps. Overall, men seem to publish more about
animals in mainstream media than women do. They also seem to do more public
speaking and be more often quoted on the subject too.
 |
| Singer |
This issue calls for readers’ impressions and comments. Are men in fact
the minority of those working on the front lines for animals? And if so, why? And longer range, should and can men be
enlisted to join this cause?
good fight for animals. Why? How did you get involved? And how can more men be recruited?
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