Women don’t get paid as much as men or invest as much as they do, but they’ve got the opposite sex beat on one money metric.
Wealthy women are more likely to donate money and time to charity than their male counterparts, according to report released Wednesday on philanthropy by wealthy Americans.
Some 93% of high-net-worth women gave money to charity last year, compared to 87% of high-net-worth men, according to the 2018 U.S. Trust Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy. Women were also more likely to volunteer their time: 56% did so, compared to 41% of men.
“This is a powerful time for women and girls,” said Hannah Kanstroom, philanthropic practice expert at U.S. Trust. “We see the positive implications in philanthropic giving and volunteering.”
What’s at the root of the gender gap in women’s and men’s giving habits? One theory is that women tend to have more “empathetic concern” than men, and that trait is linked to giving to charity, a 2011 study found.
The report’s findings are based on a survey of 1,646 U.S. households with a net worth of $1 million or more (not including the value of their primary home) and/or an annual household income of $200,000 or more. Respondents’ average net worth was $16.8 million, and their average annual household was $331,156.
Perhaps not surprisingly, these high-net-worth households were more likely to give to charity. Some 90% did so in 2017, compared to 56% of households overall. These wealthier families gave an average of $29,269 to charity, up 15% from $25,509 in 2015.
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Women were often motivated to give to groups supporting their own gender: One in four wealthy women gave to causes focused on women and girls, including women’s health, violence against women, reproductive health and reproductive rights, and girls’ education and development.
“They believe that supporting the needs of women and girls is the most efficient way to solve other societal programs,” Kanstroom said. “Women recognize that when the lives of women are improved that it creates benefit and opportunity for her extended family, future generations and even the larger community.”
Another recent study looked at donations to charity after the 2016 U.S. presidential election and found that it was a galvanizing moment for women’s giving. They increased their charitable donations in the week after the election, sending $1,000 more on average than men did to groups with a direct link to issues debated during election season.
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Source : MTV
