Supplemental data for: Gender bias in research on farmers’ perspectives regarding dairy cattle welfare: A rapid systematic review.

This dataset contains the supplementary materials of the following study: "Gender bias in research on farmers’ perspectives regarding dairy cattle welfare: A rapid systematic review." Abstract: Dairy farming remains male-dominated, with decision-making power often resting with men. However, women are typically the primary caregivers for dairy calves and their participation in other aspects of the dairy industry is increasing. If research on farmers’ views towards dairy cattle welfare is influenced by these gendered roles, it may disproportionately reflect male voices and risk producing a partial account of what farmers think and prioritize regarding animal welfare. This rapid systematic review aims to (1) assess the extent of gender representation in empirical studies investigating farmers’ views on dairy cattle welfare; (2) examine how gender is contextualized within these studies; and (3) identify whether assumptions of equality or difference between women and men are made or overlooked. After screening for eligibility, 134 publications were included in the analysis. Approximately a third of the publications (35%) did not report the gender distribution of participants. Among the 87 studies that did, the average sample consisted of 76% male and 24% female farmers (SD=20% for each). Nine studies included a category beyond “male” or “female” (here labelled as “other”) with an average of 0.2 % (SD=1%) of participants appearing in this category. Only 25 studies discussed topics related to gender and none had gender as a primary focus of their analysis. By applying a gender analysis framework, we evaluated the outcomes of the reviewed studies, including insights on the implications for actively considering gender representation in dairy cattle welfare research. We end by recommending that future studies: (1) consistently report gender of participants and broaden gender categories beyond “male” and “female”, (2) contextualize the influence of gender on the results, and (3) make efforts to avoid assumptions regarding gender when discussing research findings. Describing the gender distribution of farmers’ samples is a key step towards improving our understanding of the diverse perspectives being captured in research. While this review primarily focuses on dairy farming, we emphasize the need for gender-aware approaches that extend to other sectors of primary food production.