Women, Philanthropy, and Civil Society

This volume, which grows out of a research project on women and philanthropy sponsored by the Center for the Study of Philanthropy at the City University of New York, expands our understanding of female beneficence in shaping diverse political cultures. The contributors examine the role of philanthropy, the giving of time, money, and/or valuables for public benefiting shaping nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), civil society, and women's political culture world-wide. As in the United States, this activity often enabled women to create parallel power structures that resembled, but rarely replicated, the commercial and political arenas of men. From nuns who managed charitable and educational institutions to political activists demanding an end to discriminatory practices against women and children, many of the women whose lives are documented in these pages claimed distinctive public roles through the nonprofit sphere.