Women Give More to Charity

By Sarah Womack

Bob Geldof and Bill Gates may be the most recognised faces of charity but women surpass men in almost every measure of charitable behaviour, according to Oxfam.

More than a quarter of women – 26 per cent – give to charity every month, compared with 22 per cent of men. Fifty-five per cent of women give on an ad hoc basis in contrast to 47 per cent of men.

Payroll giving, where tax relief is added to the donation, is the one area where men beat women – four per cent to two per cent.

Women played a major role in last year’s Make Poverty History campaign with 15 per cent wearing a white wrist band, while only nine per cent of men did so. They are also more inclined to attend a march and give their time to a charity.

The YouGov survey, which quizzed 2,196 adults, found that 2005 had a “profound effect” on the young. Forty per cent of 18- to 29-year-olds said it had made them more likely to support a charity as a campaigner, volunteer or donor as opposed to 24 per cent of the population as a whole.

Adrian Lovett, of Oxfam, said: “All of us can play our part…The first step is to say,’I'm in’.”