Valuable Charities, Invaluable Women: a Feminist Critique of the Role of Women in Charitable Organisations

Charities and nonprofit(NP)organisations are an accepted feature of Australian civil society. In 2006-07 it was estimated there were 700,000 in the nonprofit sector. The most economically significant NPs employed 995,000 people. In 2008, 87% of these were women. This workforce gender profile has not changed throughout the sectory's history and it has significant implications for how care work is conceptualised, valued and included in broader society, politically, economically and culturally. This is a feminist critique of women?s experience of working in charities. It explores the Australian context, feminist philosophy, ethics, leadership, spirituality, power and business reality of charitable work as women?s work; with its impact on the recipients of charitable services. This book offers an interpretation of the underlying assumptions of Australian charities? philosophical constructs, the different role they hold in society and a feminist perspective of the women?s experience who work within them. Anyone who works with charities or is researching the sector and its contribution to Australian life will be interested in the book