Green Gender: The Impact of Brand Gender Attributes on Pro‐Environmental Consumer Evaluations

This research investigates whether feminine gender attributes systematically enhance the pro‐environmental perception of various entities (e.g., brands, political parties, and countries). Across eight studies, using both experimental and correlational methods, entities with feminine (vs. masculine) gender attributes are perceived as more pro‐environmental. An internal meta‐analysis across all studies ( N = 3122) confirms a moderate positive correlation between femininity and pro‐environmental evaluation ( r = 0.31, SE = 0.07, BCa 95% CI: [0.12, 0.48], p < 0.001), whereas masculinity shows no significant correlation with pro‐environmental perception ( r = −0.17, SE = 0.13, 95% CI: [− 0.40, 0.08], p = 0.189). The feminine‐green effect holds across different entities and is mediated by perceptions of warmth. The effect of human gender attributes exceeds that of biological sex and extends even to self‐perceptions. Our findings contribute to diverse research streams focused on heuristics, green marketing, and gender stereotypes by demonstrating that warmth‐related traits underlie the “feminine‐green stereotype.”