Where Are All The Male Volunteers?

Whenever I have had to state my strengths and weaknesses or take a competency test of any kind, the term ‘team player’ is always present on my list. I love working with others and being part of something that others can benefit from. At School, it was being part of extra-curricular clubs and organising events. At work, it was about being part of the social committee and organising Christmas and Summer parties or volunteering to be the new starter’s buddy. I’ve also been part of the PTA at my kids’ school and regularly organise family gatherings. I guess it’s just in my nature and I never did any of these things to get something back – like a promotion.

Over the last few years, I’ve also taken up more formal volunteer roles, both in Sports (in my case coaching Cricket) and as part of my professional work with Dive In and other organisations. One of the starkest differences I have witnessed is the fewer number of male-identifying volunteers for non-sport-related activities. It’s a conversation that the team at DiveIn have had several times and so I began to investigate this more.

According to data from a national survey on volunteering, Time Well Spent, there are more women in volunteering than men. This seems to be largely explained by working patterns as those that work part-time, tend to volunteer more, and women and more likely than men to work part-time. Similarly, the Office for National Statistics found that although participation rates for men and women were similar (41% and 42% respectively), the time each gender spent volunteering was very different. Women, on average, spent 15.7 minutes per day volunteering while men only spent 11.3 minutes per day in voluntary work.

There can be many reasons that women volunteer more than men. The flexibility, the opportunity to socialise or they are simply better at the task or enjoy it more than men. However, this still sits uneasily with me, and I know from personal experiences that I’ve inherited a lot of my need to serve the community from my father. For as long as I can remember, my dad was always a key participant in our small Indian community, even when he ran the family business and would be working crazy hours. He still took time to host Diwali events for our community, sometimes in our own house, he wrote for the community newsletter and has done much charitable work in India and Africa. So, is it just down to a person’s nature? Or is something holding men back from getting involved?

I do think societal norms and the conditioning of men to be the main provider may make them think they have no time for volunteering, or even that it’s a waste of time! The capitalist nature of our society and the need to be earning more and more puts less value on things where there is no monetary return. Unless it is sport related or a stereotypical male task such as scout leader or DIY. When it comes to the workplace, men are less likely to volunteer for non-promotable tasks as there is never an expectation for them to do so in the first place and women are more likely to say yes if asked. If I look back on the times, I volunteered to organise social activities, there was rarely a man in sight to help. And most likely, they were never asked to in the first place.

So how do address this in-balance in the non-sport related environment? Research suggests that male volunteers need something specific to ‘hook’ them into volunteer work. They’re more likely to volunteer for an organisation they already have a connection to. On the other hand, women appear to volunteer for social reasons and to help the community. Certain stigmas need to be addressed and talked about more, such as the value of the work. I for one know that the joy I have received from some of my volunteering work has been priceless. I have been rewarded in more ways than just money. These benefits from volunteering have helped me with my confidence, and my mental health and have enhanced my skill set, all of which I would not have received from an actual paying role.

Businesses can themselves play a role in reducing the barriers for men to volunteer, such as providing volunteer days, redistributing non-promotable tasks more equally between genders and highlighting this activity to the team. The more it is normalised within the workplace, the more likely men will get involved and get to experience the benefits themselves.

Volunteers are such a vital part of our society and for organisations like DiveIn, which is solely made up of volunteers, we must find ways to normalise more men being involved. Like with all things, diversity is vital for creativity and for all voices to be represented. And the same goes for volunteering.