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At Animal Charity Evaluators, our focus is on identifying the most effective ways to help animals. To follow through with this mandate, we believe it is necessary for the animal advocacy movement to engage larger portions of the population and to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion. We must fight against the systems of oppression that negatively affect human and nonhuman animals alike.
The animal advocacy movement has developed a reputation as a movement for wealthy white people, and relevant statistics seem to support that reputation. According to Faunalytics, more than three-quarters of vegetarians and vegans are white,2 while only 63% of the U.S. population is white. Similarly, nearly three-quarters of vegetarians and vegans identify as women, compared to only about 50% of people in the U.S. About 64% of vegetarians and vegans have earned at least a bachelor’s degree, whereas only about 32% of the U.S. population has done so.3, 4 There are likely many other demographic, ethno-racial, and social differences between animal activists and the rest of the U.S. How can the animal advocacy movement effectively help animals when it fails to reach or include the voices of large numbers of humans?...