philanthropy THE RISING INFLUENCE OF FEMALE PHILANTHROPY
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Women in philanthropy is nothing new. Throughout history, women have joined together to solve problems in society, whether this was helping soldiers’ families during times of war, aiding widows and children or helping the plight of refugees. Although many people perceive that philanthropy is the work of visible rich, white men like Bill Gates, John Rockefeller and the like, philanthropy has in fact always been comprised of large and small financial contributions together with contributions of time and talent from people across all the different demographics – men and women alike. Historically, being a philanthropist was a “respectable” occupation for women, although the money employed in this philanthropy was generally that belonging to their family or their husband. Women were often thought of as invisible. However, according to The Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University, philanthropy was often a way for them to make change behind the scenes: “Women in the last 300 years used creative, clever, and canny means to effect social change during times when they could not vote, hold public office, or manage property they may have brought into a marriage.”
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THE CITIZEN
Today, the distribution of wealth is changing, and female billionaires are at an all-time high. Indeed, on the Forbes’ list of billionaires this year, there were 242 women billionaires compared to just 91 in the list just nine years previously – a record number, albeit still far behind their male counterparts. Nevertheless, this shift is ensuring that the face of philanthropy is changing. And it is not just the increasing numbers of the world’s super-rich females bringing about this change; women in general are becoming wealthier in their own right. In the past 30 years, their median income has risen by 60 percent, thus making them more independent and cementing them as important donors in the world of philanthropy. In fact, research shows that women, regardless of wealth, outpace men of a comparative income level in their charitable giving. Statistics published in Forbes show that women give almost twice as much of their wealth away as men; 3.5 percent and 1.8 percent respectively. Another strong trend is that females are much more likely than men to support women’s and girls’ causes – making their donations crucial in making long-term systemic changes in these fields. Of course, many donors
