Leisure Time in Our Community - Characteristics Of Volunteers: Gender

The graphic divides volunteers engaged in charitable causes by gender for the years 1974-2000¹. It also shows the total percentage of adult volunteers for the years 1981-2000. The curve shows that volunteering has its seasons too, now rising and now falling. The pattern does not match the economic cycle precisely. There was a recession in 1991, but not one in 1998, another peak of voluntary activity.

But while volunteering has cycled over time, the participation of men and women is something of a constant. A consistently higher percentage of women volunteer. Women, of course, outnumber men, but that's not the sole explanation. 1974, 1989, and 1998 saw the biggest spread between the participation of the sexes. Men's participation is more steady and, over this period, has fluctuated around the 45% mark. Women's participation averages at a higher rate (in the middle 50s), but has been trending down. Women may respond more to causes, issues, and perceptions of need. When volunteering declines overall, women leave the ranks in greater numbers than men. But when volunteering surges, more women respond.

For most years the percentages of men and women volunteers increased or declined in tandem. This was not the case in three periods: 1974-1981, 1987-1989, and 1989-1991. From 1974 to 1981 and from 1989 to 1991, the percentage of women volunteering went down, the proportion of men volunteering went up. During the 1987 to 1989 time period, the percentage of men volunteering dropped slightly, women's participation went up. No one has analyzed the overall phenomenon in sufficient detail to explain these fluctuations.

The next panel discusses the educational attainment characteristics of volunteers.

Sources: Chart data, 1974-1998: U.S. Census Bureau. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1980, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1999, and 2001. 2000 data: Giving and Volunteering in the United States 2001: Key Findings, Washington D.C.: INDEPENDENT SECTOR, 2002.