Comments | differenceblog: Who volunteers?

differenceblog

Who volunteers?

Jul 09, 2007 09:23

According to a report released this month by The Corporation for National and Community Service (2007), 31.6% of American women volunteered time in the past three years, compared to 24.3% of men, with median hours per year of 50 and 52 per volunteer, respectively. Factors that the report found tied to volunteer service on the community level were ( Read more... )

data and tools, research triangle institute, nathan west, volunteering, volunteers, sex differences, hiromi taniguchi, united states, corporation for national and community s, community service, census, activism, thomas smith, gender differences

Comments 6

astrogeek01 July 9 2007, 14:49:15 UTC

I find it interesting that the busier people are, the more they volunteer. I do some "volunteer" work, but often it's things I'm allowed to skip "work" for - e.g. outreach events etc above and beyond what's required of me. I'm not sure I really qualify that as volunteering though. I suppose it is, in some sense. But in another, it's just part of my job... OTOH, I suppose grad school business is a bit different from 'real world' busy lives... there really is no unallocated time ( ... )

differenceblog July 9 2007, 16:07:57 UTC

I think it's a bit of a vicious circle -- women make less because they take "fulfilling" jobs and "fulfilling jobs" pay less because they are largely worked by women. And I think that's based in no small part on the fact that women trade higher pay for greater flexibility as well as on institutionalized sexism.

ukelele July 9 2007, 15:24:17 UTC

Your last two sentences hit home for me -- I haven't done any volunteer work for a long time, but I'm also a teacher, which fills up my "contributing to humanity" bin. If I were doing something less service-oriented I'd feel a stronger need to vlunteer.

differenceblog July 9 2007, 16:10:47 UTC

When I started writing the commentary, I was thinking that ALL "community contribution" jobs were female-biased -- and then while typing I thought of the "first responder" jobs, which tend to be more male-biased. (I don't know what the ratios are running like on EMTs this decade). So I don't know whether it's a valid explanation at all. There are "motivations for volunteering" studies that I could look at, if this is a topic that interests people.

astrogeek01 July 9 2007, 20:13:29 UTC

yeah that sounds interesting :) do a post on it!

differenceblog July 9 2007, 20:18:43 UTC

I like to mix it up a little, so I'll try to remember to come back to it. I've been meaning see if women do have redder, fuller lips than men. I've never bothered to look it up.