This is a difficult question to answer without being sexist! Perhaps the answer depends upon who is doing the writing; either male or female. It’s very hard to be totally objective but a quick skim of the Internet tells me that domestic cats in general prefer women to men. And researchers also state that male cats are more affectionate towards people than female cats who are said to be more aloof because of their mothering instincts. There is quite a lot of anecdotal stuff flying around the Internet on this topic.
Perhaps the answer, too, depends on how much the cat’s owner loves their cat! Or cats in general. So perhaps the finding that domestic cats prefer women is because women prefer domestic cats when compared to men who tend to prefer domestic dogs.
That’s the point I was making in the first paragraph; it is very hard to measure affection between cat and person objectively and scientifically. Liking a person is directly related to how much the person likes you. Whether a cat likes you is partly dependent upon your gender and partly dependent upon your behaviour and attitude.
Why it is claimed that cats prefer women
It is said that domestic cats prefer women to men because of the following reasons: they have a softer voice, they have a feminine touch, they have motherly instincts, they have similar personality traits to cats and they interact with their cat more than men.
With respect to the last point, it is said that if a domestic cat approaches their human companion to interact with them then those interactions last longer than when the human approaches the cat. But it seems that women approach their cats more than men. This at least partly because women like to talk more than men. So, they talk to their cat.
As to women and cats having similar personality traits, this is a bit of a stretch because they’re different species but perhaps it is true that the sort of independent-minded woman who lives alone and has a cat is similar to their cat in general attitude. Although domestic cats are quite sociable nowadays, they are essentially, at heart, solitary and quite independent. And there is the similarity to the kind of woman who lives with a domestic cat often. Although it’s a misconception to believe that domestic cats are very independent and can look after themselves. It leads to neglect and poor Caretaking.
The motherly instincts argument is quite good too because a lot of people relate to their domestic cat companions as little people and children. This is because they anthropomorphised their cats. And if they do that then motherly instincts will emerge from the woman and be showered upon the domestic cat.
The feminine touch is also a good point I think because gentleness towards cats both in general demeanour, the actual physical touch, the sound of the voice et cetera are all quite important in terms of a cat’s enjoyment of their environment. Cats like calm and quiet combine with a gentle touch. I believe that too often people handle their cats with too much strength forgetting that they are much larger and stronger than domestic cats.
The softer voice argument is a good one which goes, as mentioned, with the gentleness of approach.
Counterargument
All that said, is probably incorrect to presume that women have softer voices than men when they are talking to their cat. It might not be like that. It doesn’t have to be like that. Men can lower their voice and whisper sweet nothings to their cat!
And as for a soft touch and gentleness, men can be perfectly gentle and arguably they have a more precise touch than women. I’m not being sexist and am referring to sport. I’ve watched a lot of sport in my time and played a lot of sport. My impression is that men although stronger than women have a more precise and refined touch. Don’t take that as a sexist remark, it is not. It is meant to be entirely scientific and based on observational evidence!
I think of all these points as to why domestic cats might prefer women, the best one is that the sort woman who lives with a cat is a single, intelligent, independently-minded person which somewhat mirrors their beloved cat’s mentality. That’s why they get on so brilliantly. And why they support each other equally well.
HUMAN TO CAT RELATIONSHIP:
We’ve all seen those dog challenges where men and women run in different direction and see who the dog follows and most of the dog chase the woman. I think this is because mom is the care giver. She who has the food, gets the loyalty. So I think cats also prefer mom cause she does the feeding. I think cats and dogs vote their stomachs for the most part. I cannot remember seeing one video where dad took the dog to get a puppachino. 🙂
Definitely a point worth taking on board. There are probably other factors such as women generally being quieter and moving more gently and petting more gently. Although we are generalising. It is not always like that.