Vegetarianism and gender identity: Parallels and contrasts between gender- and diet-choices in the EU

Purpose
We aim to fill a gap in our knowledge about gender and diet choices that results from current research practices. A growing number of publications about vegetarians and/or vegans (henceforth “veg*ns”) report the (very small) number of people among their subjects who make gender choices other than the binary options (henceforth “gender-diverse”) but drop them from the analysis.

Design/methodology/approach
Our work brings small numbers of gender-diverse people into current research by examining the data in the light of theoretical social-psychological approaches. We identify potential parallels and contrasts between distinctive gender- and diet choices and demonstrate our approach by analyzing an existing large-scale multinational survey in the 27 EU countries (Eurobarometer 79.1), complemented by country-level data.

Findings
Countries with higher percentages of gender-diverse persons also had higher percentages of veg*ns. These countries were higher in income and on cultural values that allow individuals to choose their own paths. In the nine highest-income countries, gender diversity and veg*nism were similarly related to age category, length of education, being a student, left-right political position, and living in cities. Also, being a gender-diverse person and, in particular, being a vegan co-occurred more often than might be expected by chance.

Originality
This study demonstrates that our knowledge about the relationship between veg*nism and gender is incomplete without considering the situation of small groups, such as gender-diverse persons, who might be frontrunners and allies in the pursuit of healthy and sustainable diets.