What is Giving Compass?
We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us.
Giving Compass' Take:
• Alexander Amstrup and Pritha Venkatachalam at IDR debunk the myth that India's women give less to charity than men.
• What are some common trends with female-driven philanthropy? What areas need more attention in India?
• Learn about impact philanthropy by and for women.
One of the most pervasive myths in US philanthropy is that women give less to charity than men. That is what the faculty of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy call out in a recent article published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. After highlighting the myth, the authors then debunk it. Citing three separate research efforts from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI), the authors argue that when we “take into consideration wealth, income, and education, [US] women are more likely to give and also to give more money than men.”
The question is, does the same hold true in India? Is the notion that Indian women are ‘less philanthropic’ than Indian men mere fiction, or fact?
Less income, fewer female entrepreneurs, less recognition
At first glance, the evidence indicates that it is quite likely that women in India are, in fact, less charitable than men.
To begin, researchers at WPI maintain that income is a key predictor of philanthropic giving. Unfortunately, from 2017 to 2018, India’s share of employed women, as well as women who are available for work, fell to an all-time low of 23.6 percent, according to the World Bank. Put another way, roughly three out of four women over the age of 15 are neither working nor seeking work. Because they lack an income stream, unemployed women presumably have less influence over the family’s financial or giving decisions.
Read the full article about this charitable myth by Alexander Amstrup and Pritha Venkatachalam at India Development Review (IDR).