Does your source distinguish between motivations for vegetarianism? It’s plausible that the male:female vegetarianism rates are instead motivated by (e.g.) culture-linked diet concerns—women adopt restricted diets of all types significantly more than men—and that ethically motivated vegetarianism occurs at similar rates, or that self-justifying ethics tend to evolve after the fact.
Does your source distinguish between motivations for vegetarianism? It’s plausible that the male:female vegetarianism rates are instead motivated by (e.g.) culture-linked diet concerns—women adopt restricted diets of all types significantly more than men—and that ethically motivated vegetarianism occurs at similar rates, or that self-justifying ethics tend to evolve after the fact.
Nornagest, fair point. See too “The Brain Functional Networks Associated to Human and Animal Suffering Differ among Omnivores, Vegetarians and Vegans” : http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0010847