As you can see in the chart above, women seem to be much more generous than men in giving to charity. Was it always like this? Please watch this VIDEO about the history of women donating to women's social causes and answer ONE of the questions below:1. What is your reaction to the video?
2. Tell us about a time you donated money or volunteered time to a charity.
3. Why do you think women are more generous than men these days?
I'd like to answer #2. When I was a freshman, I volunteered time for guiding foreign tourists at Meiji Shrine, Asakusa and Imperial Palace. These activities were really fun!
ReplyDeleteT1 Akiko
#2
ReplyDeleteAll I do is donate about 500 yen in red feather thing when they do at local stations once a year.
Kento T1
#2
ReplyDeleteThe junior high school that I graduated has some volunteer activities. For example, cleaning around the town, fund-raising and helping the elders at a retirement home.
I willingly participated in these activities then, but I hardly do nowadays except donating a small money.
Mana T1
Q1
ReplyDeleteI think women are better at standing up for good causes and bringing about change than men because they have been fighting for equality that men have always taken for granted.
T1 Manabu
I gonna answer question1. Before I wantched this video, I've already known that there was a movement to get right for women. However, I've never thought that it was such a long and big movement. It was also surprising for me that such a huge amount of money was donated to the movement.
ReplyDeleteRina T1
I donated money to Ashinaga Bokin to help students to go to school when they were having campaign at station.
ReplyDeleteTomomi.A T1
I will answer Q3. I think 1)women have long been undermined in a society so they can be more sympathetic to those in need. 2)Now that their social status has got improved little by little, they can afford to think of not only themselves but also others.At the same time, though,they seem to try to draw the attention (unconsciously)from the society by means of generousity.A kind of self expression?
ReplyDeleteTomomi(S) T1
I would like to answer Q2.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a jounior high school student, I participated in a fund-raising campaign of UNICEF. So, whenever I see the students who have a collection box at a station, I remember my experience and raise small money.
Satomi Yoneyama T1
Q3
ReplyDeleteI think it is related with women's social advancement. The more women work in society and gain higher status, the more money they earn and spend as they want. It doesn't mean women are more generous than men, but women are relatively better at managing their money so they have more savings-- it's just how I feel though.
Also, I kind of agree with Tomomi's opinion above. Some women tend to spend money for others in order to get better reputation from people around them.
Mika.K T1
I'd like to answer Q2.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in an elementary school, I donated one dollar to a Streetchildren's home in Vietnam every six months to help streetchildren study at a school.
Rie T1
I would like to answer Question 3.
ReplyDeleteI think, Generousity shows how a man or a woman is sympathetic to their surrounding people. Women's social position and their rights were not regconized and protected enough from many years ago, that is why they themselves truely understand what women have to suffer and they sympathized with those who have the same hardship with them. In my country, there is a saying that, "One always living in happiness do not know what happiniess is". Men were respected as owners of the society, so, it is difficult for them to understand how hard women, especially the poor, in the past and in these days as well, have to suffer. As they do not understand, they can not give their hand to help them. That is why we think that they are not as generous as women.
Van T1
My answer to #2
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in highschool, I did "40 hour famine" almost every year and other charitable works as it was encouraged by the school.
Ayumi T1
My answer to #2.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a junior high school student, I took a part in UNICEF's fund-raising charity.
I was holding a box in my hands and asking people to donate their money, but not many people did.
I remember I was dissapointed at the fact that we couldn't collect much donation although fund-raising is not all about how much amount you collect...
Yuri N. T1
To #1:
ReplyDeleteAlthough it was quite fascinating for me, I wondered if the case would be possible here in Japan. Unfortunately, I see that charity itself is not really popular among Japanese people. It might be because we were asked to donate some money when we were elementary/junior high students (I guess most schools do) and unconsciously felt being forced for the act itself. I truly hope fundraising would be more popular in Japan too, as I observed in Canada and the US.
Kaori
My answer to Q1;
ReplyDeleteI did not know there were so many movement to donate to women's social causes in the past. I wonder why only women have to act so hard to gain their own causes, while man not. By the way, I believe women have more possibilities to change the world better.
Ayako T1
I would like to answer Question 2.
ReplyDeleteIn 1995, the Great Hanshin and Awaji Earthquake occurred. Although I was still only an elementary school student, I donated 5,000 yen from my pocket money.
The event was really shocking to everyone.
Yusuke T1
#3
ReplyDeleteThe reason women seem more generous to help others than men do is that women have history of having been neglected in many societies no matter how talented they were. Therefore they understand feelings of the underpriviledged more than men do. Also they have maternal instincts. So when they see people in poor conditions they get driven to help.
Megumi(T1)
I'll answer question #3.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason is that women tend to be
more emotional than men. Women easily have sympathy than men do, so they feel sad and donate more.
Satomi.K. T1
Q2:I donated 100 yen to Haitians after great earthquake hit Haiti and caused the tragic damage to the country.
ReplyDeleteTakashi Ueno T1
Q3
ReplyDeleteI guess it is because men had the right to do almost everything for many years and they take it for granted. Women, however, know the history or the feeling of not being treated equally, so they might have sympathy for those need to be helped.
Yurika
I will answer #2. I don't always give my money, times and energies to do volunteering, but the organization which I belong to such as school class or club members plan to do some charity activity, I positively attend it. When I was Junior High School students, I made posters to paste in front of the class window and walk around to explain how this donated money helps poor people.
ReplyDeleteSatomi YOSHI T1
My answer to #2:
ReplyDeleteI'm working as a volunteer at Japan Association for UNHCR(United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). I'm translating UNHCR's proposals and reports from English to Japanese for private sector donors in Japan as well as assisting office work. I started to be involved in volunteer work because I'm interested in refugee issues all over the world and in the activity of UNHCR. Even if I work without pay, working at the office is very effective for me because I can learn from many things from my boss. In short, my motivation is a little different from "charity."
Natsuki T1
My answer to Q2:
ReplyDeleteLast year, I joined a volunteer activity once. It was to pick up garbage around the station for cleaning up the town. Moreover, I heard that there are so many volunteer groups which do such activities regurarly.
Yumi T1
To #3,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if women are more generous than men these days, but only as for giving to charity, they seem to be affirmative than men.
A possible reason for this is that women have been oppressed everywhere in their history. Those negative history could have told women what they should do for disadvantaged people.
Takako T1
I'd worked for a week in kindergarten when I was junior school.
ReplyDeleteI helped to take care of 5-years-old chinldren, it was so hard for me because every child didn't obey my order at all and they had so much stamina that I couldn't play with them all the time.
But this exprience was precious one! If you
have a chance like that, i wanna join it again.
Yuri M T1
Q3
ReplyDeleteSociety, let's say the Japanese society here, has become more of an egalitarian one than decades ago in terms of the general perception toward gender, which may boil down to the fact that women today are almost as economically competitive as men. Nevertheless, the stereotypical idea that men are the ones who provide food and shelter to the rest of their family members has not yet been overturned, and this holds true for the status quo. Thus, women tend to spend more money on charity and the like than men do, which might be one of the reasons women appear more generous than men.
Masaru T1
Q3
ReplyDeleteI've given 100yen to the red feathers when I was in elementary school which I didn't know what it was for.
#1
ReplyDeleteI haven't related the women's generousity of doneting for charity with the women's movement to promote their social status. The video gave me a question :do other actors of social movements that also call for social rights, for example, African Americans or native Americans, are also generous in giving charity? If the women's social movement affected the women's donating tendency, the same thing would applies to other social movements.
T1 Ayano
To Q3
ReplyDeleteConcerning the fact that 84% of all charitable donation is made by Women, I think it's a matter of sympathy. I guess women are biologically desined to feel sympathy more than men, because it is needed for raising children. So women are easily persuaded to donate.
Minami T1
Q3
ReplyDeleteI'd like to point out two things to answer the question.
Firstly, the maternal affection shares the big part of generosity of women. Some say such a kind of affection doesn't really exist and I know many men donate for society, but I think it does and that it's obvious from the attitude of women towards the socially weak people.
Secondly, women have the history that they have been discriminated against for long time. Therefore it's natural for them to sympathize with people suffering and take action to get the right to break free.
Miki T1
To question #3:
ReplyDeleteI think that because women have historically been in a weaker social status than men (and they still are in some ways), they recognize the need to help those who are in a similarly weak position.
Asako T1
to Q2：
ReplyDeleteI remember that there was a red feather donation at junior high and high school, which I sometimes did and sometimes didn't. Not many friends were serious and they just dropped money just because the box was handed or because they just wanted the feather. The problem is, you never know how they use your money once you drop it in the box. Donation has to be more transparent and there should be a kind of annual feedback of the total amount of the donation, where it went, and how the situation got improved with it so that more people will be motivated not only to donate, but to try to understand the situation.
Haruka T1
Q2
ReplyDeletewhen I moved to tokyo 3 years ago, there was a big earthquake in Noto which is the place I was born. I found people collecting donation at the Chofu city office. Id never donated to any association before, but at that moment I felt sympathy to those people and I talked to them and donated money for the first time in my life. I was really glad to see their gratitude and had begun to take such donations more seriously.
Tats T1