Women are far less likely than men to support fracking because they rely more on feel and gut reaction than facts, according to the woman representing the UK shale gas industry.

Averil Macdonald, who was appointed chair of UK Onshore Oil and Gas this week, said that giving women more information about the controversial practice would not change their minds.



“Women, for whatever reason, have not been persuaded by the facts. More facts are not going to make any difference,” the professor of science engagement at Reading University told the Times. “What we have got to do is understand the gut reaction, the feel. The dialogue is more important than the dissemination of facts.”

A survey of 7,000 people by the University of Nottingham and YouGov found that 31.5% of women believed that shale gas exploration should permitted in Britain, compared with 58% of men.

Macdonald said: “Not only do [women] show more of a concern about fracking, they also know that they don’t know and they don’t understand. They are concerned because they don’t want to be taking [something] on trust. And that’s actually entirely reasonable.”



This situation was partly a consequence of many women having stopped studying science at the age of 16, she believed.

Sarah O’Hara, professor of geography at University of Nottingham, said earlier this month that the gender divide about fracking was “driven by the way women are perceiving shale gas”.

Of all those surveyed, only 46.5% were in favour of allowing fracking in the UK, down from 52.6% three years ago.

Many surveys have shown much higher support for renewable energy such as solar and wind, which are backed by some two-thirds of the British public or more, than shale gas.

Accepting the part-time role as chair of UK Onshore Oil and Gas, Macdonald said she would use a “clear, accurate application of scientific evidence to help reassure local communities that reserves of British natural gas can be developed safety and with the minimum of environmental impact and that UK gas supplies are part of a long term sustainable solution and not just a stop gap. I am keen to engage with people to understand their perspectives, hopes and concerns.”

A physics teacher before becoming a lecturer at Reading, she is a board member of Women in Science and Engineering, has co-authored more than 20 school text books and was awarded the Bragg medal by the Institute of Physics in 1999 for helping to popularising physics.

