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VOLUNTEERING/
BY GENDER
source: www.cev.be/facts&figures.htm
www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/
FactSheets/FS_Volunteering2.pdf
www.acer.edu.au/research/lsay/
documents/LSAY32Lipsig-Mumme.pdf.
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Volunteer work often reflects the traditional roles of men and women. In several countries, women dominate the education and welfare types of voluntary work... - according to UN Volunteers official statistics, in 2005 (until the end of May) 6,201 volunteers worked worldwide within the organisation, 64,5% of which are men (3,259) and 35,5% women (1,797);
- in Australia, the aggregate gender differences were slight in 2000. The rate of volunteering was 31% for men and 33% for women. But gender differences emerge more clearly depending on age and life stage, with men volunteering slightly more than women in the older age groups, and considerably less in the youngest age groups. Partnered women with children had a significantly higher volunteering rate (45%) than partnered women without dependent children (28%). Moreover, the activities that men and women do are highly gendered. Women dominate the education and welfare types of voluntary work while men maintain their numbers by their sporting voluntary work;
- in Canada, according to the 2000 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating (NSGVP), women continue to be slightly more likely to volunteer than men (28% versus 25%, respectively), while men continue to contribute more total volunteer hours per year, on average (170 versus 155 hours, respectively). Volunteer rates and volunteer hours generally increase with level of education; (1)
- in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Department of Labor, 1/4 of men and about 1/3 of women did volunteer work in the year ended in September 2004, about the same proportions as in the prior year. Women volunteered at a higher rate than men across age groups, education levels, and other major characteristics;
- in Belgium, available data are split between the French and Flemish communities. In the francophone Walloon region, of the total number of people who have come for interview at “L’Association pour le Volontariat” in 2002-2003, 60% were women and 40% were men. In the Flemish community, evidence suggests that around 50% of volunteers are men and 50% are women;
- in France, it seems that at present, more men than women are volunteers. According to the French partners of Vision21, a European programme to promote volunteering, 30% of the men and 22% of the women over 15 are volunteers (the 35-55 age-group is the most represented); (2)
- in Germany, according to the National Survey of 1999 the important gender-related finding was that fewer women than men volunteer; 30% of the female and 38% of the male population. Furthermore, women devote significantly less time to their tasks assumed voluntarily. In general, women and men favour different areas of volunteering. While women make up the majority in fields such as ‘Schools or nursery schools’, ‘Social welfare’, ‘Church and religion organisation’ and the ‘Health sector’, men dominate in all the other areas. Also characteristic for men is that they were more likely to occupy positions of responsibility;
- in Poland, in terms of gender, no significant difference is noticed between men and women volunteering, according to the authors of a population survey carried out in 2004: 20.9% of men and women 15.9% reported to volunteer;
- in Scotland, according to the NFO System Three Scottish Opinion Survey of July 2003, 32% of men volunteer or have volunteered compared with 41% of women. This figure is interesting since many other surveys have found that men and women are equally likely to volunteer;
(1) [ www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/71-542-XIE/71-542-XIE00001.pdf]
(2) [ www.vision21.neostrada.pl/ncofr.pdf]
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