Women Provide 26% Of All Political Donations, Volunteer More Often

Political donations by women make up just 26% of all political donations according to a recent report released by She Should Run (SSR) and the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP)

According to the report that percentage makes up all political donations including those made to politicians, political action committees (PACs) and party committees in 2010.

When compared to 2008 current numbers are down by 5% and 1% compared to 2006, down from 31 percent in 2008 and 27 percent in 2006.

The low increase in political donations comes during a three decade period in which the average salary for female workers has increased by 60 percent.

Sam Bennett, president and CEO of SSR explains the low political donations to The Daily Caller:

“Women are far more motivated to want to see changes in their neighborhood and city on a social level than men are, but they have not yet made that connection [with politics]. In fact, women, far more than men, see the hard, sausage-making dimension of politics as something they are not willing to be engaged in. They find it distasteful.”

While women do not donate nearly as much political dollars as men, female candidates actually raise more money, $100,000 more than their male opponents on average.

We may expect that those female candidates raise more money from their female followers however the study finds that isn’t necessarily the truth, only four of the 2,215 candidates that ran for office in 2010 relied on women for 50 percent or more of their campaign contributions.

The study also found that Democrat supports are more likely to donation political contributions than Republican and Independent voters.

Victoria Budson, the Executive Director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University tells US News:

“Men tend to view political giving as an extension of their power base,” Budson says. “Women view it as one of the many ways they invest in their values and their priorities. It is one of the ways they participate in politics, but it is not the only way.”

While women are less likely to run for public office and less likely to donate money, they are more likely to donate their time to a campaign and to participate in public outreach which can easily make the difference in a political campaign.