Response from Doug Mackay, Active Volunteer, Pennsylvania
There definitely is a problem with the field lacking male volunteer
leaders. I enjoy conferences, and not just because I know no one
else will be in the men's room at break time! I think men are afraid.
Afraid of woman in charge, women with ideas women who have strong
opinions. I can appreciate this fear, certainly, but I also am afraid
of all the men in charge who have the same qualities, and look at
where our systems and institutions have gone. Guys just don't like
to be told what to do by any woman except "the wife."
For all the power men have, they're weak.
The problem may stem from poor teaching of children: teaching the
qualities that make up a strong volunteer leader or, indeed, a strong
volunteer(actually a strong citizen). Compassion, patience, perseverance,
tolerance, understanding, cooperation, etc. Are these "male"
qualities, especially seen in our male leaders, local, national,
and institutional?
In my capacity as a volunteer organizer and leader, I've taken
the opportunity to involve children in service projects or volunteer
activities. Everybody needs to involve children in creative ways.
Everybody needs to teach children that power and control need not
be equated with leadership and directing. If society continues to
equate wealth (ex. money) with power, and ignore the other measures
of success (ex. self worth) then volunteering will always be fractionalized
and labeled.
As far as why don't fire companies and sports leagues learn more
about volunteer recruitment, etc.? They think they know the answers
and are unwilling to think outside their box. We may need to wait
out the current adult population before we see changes, but only
if we teach children how to think outside their box now.
Submitted by Bruce Glasrud, The Volunteer Center - St. Paul, Minnesota
Yes Doug, there is never a wait for the bathrooms - and that is
about the only benefit for a male in the field. The rest is a daily
minefield. For years the thought has been:,"there are few men
in the field because the salaries are so low", ergo "the
salaries are so low because there are few men in the field."
And that is the end of the conversation. Witness the few responses
to this topic, unless it relates to the same old "gender equity"
song. Doug says the men are afraid. Perhaps, but I think the females
are even more afraid. I have had female supervisors for most of
my working life, including in the military. Yet, professional relationships
are as hard if not harder for males to build in this field where
M/F ratios are reversed. If I ask a female colleague to "do
lunch" - what does she think I'm after . . . a colleague? .
. . or am I after something else? And if I do have a female colleague
that I pal around with - what do (and have, by the way) others think
is going on?
It has also been my experience several times not to get hired because
(and this has been confirmed by female colleagues familiar with
the persons in question) because the female supervisor was uncomfortable
with supervising a male. I am also constantly aware of having to
be viewed by some as a "threatening male" whenever I open
my mouth in a committee meeting. (the meeting notice I received
with the little bunny rabbits on the top by the way!) Unless we
ALL address the field with more professionalism (and this includes,
quite frankly, to eschew using the field as a venue for gender issues),
the few men that trickle into the field are going to trickle out
- faster than the average 16 months length of stay for a volunteer
director. There, I finally said it. What a "Pushy Guy"!
Am I feeling - pushed - out of the field? You bet! The question
is: how many more males have to come and go before the females address
their own reverse discrimination issues? I'm probably not going
to be around long enough to find out.
Response from Diane L Leipper, Leipper Management Group, Nevada
USA
In regards to the gender bias issue, an interesting article to
contemplate is an article titled "The Road to the Top Job:
Nonprofit Management Experience" in the September 1997 issue
of Association Management from ASAE.
I think a lot of this issue relates to your previous "Hot
Topic" on whether or not volunteer management is a profession.
Response from Sarah Elliston, Professional Development Associate,
United Way Volunteer Resource Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
I agree that sexism is rampant in the field and the examples you
give are obvious ones where men (traditional bread winners) have
done capital campaigns while women hold events (traditional party
givers). At our United Way, two of the three managers in the Volunteer
Resource Department are men, although both have been involved in
volunteer resource development or coordination for more than 5 years)
and our Department Vice President is also a man. To his credit,
however, he has started speaking to agency CEO groups about the
importance of the executive director in the volunteer program (from
'From the Top Down' of course) and he attends the POLF conference
to learn more about voluntarism.
It's interesting that the voluntarism scholars on university campuses
are men although not surprising. I don't know why our field would
escape the traditional cultural conditioning that is rampant in
the rest of society.
In some cases we women coordinators are our own worst enemy. I
have had coordinators talk about their "little volunteer group"
in a diminutive and disparaging style. I know women volunteer coordinators
who refuse to set boundaries with their organization and act as
if they can do it all. The men ask the organizations to set priorities.
I know women volunteer coordinators who try to be all things to
all people, and end up burning out in the position. Whoever is hired
in the position next, male or female, is expected to do the same.
The women burn out, the men leave if the organization won't set
boundaries. Other women volunteer coordinators seem incapable of
sharing responsibility and cause irreparable harm because no one
else in their organization learns about the volunteer program.
It seems so simple that I am probably missing something. If volunteer
coordinators delegate their responsibilities back to paid staff
for ideas, supervision, recruitment and evaluation, eventually the
paid staff starts to learn about working with volunteers. If the
coordinator has her self-esteem in hand, knows who she is and refuses
to be a victim, she will prevail in their organization. Changing
the world is another story but it starts with each of us changing
our selves and then our organizations.
