Volunteering and gender. Renegotiating the social division of labour since the 1970s

SNSF project under the direction of Regula Ludi and Matthias Ruoss, with the collaboration of Sarah Probst, doctoral student (duration: 2021-2025).

Volunteering is a highly topical issue. In Switzerland, the willingness to volunteer remains high. However, the practices and framework conditions for volunteering have changed considerably over the last few decades.

A contribution to the history of the present - encouraging public dialogue

The project examines the causes and effects of this change, focusing on Switzerland. The starting point is the structural interweaving of volunteering and the gender order in the era of neo-liberal restructuring of the economy, the state and society. Since the 1970s, the principles of competition and individual success have penetrated more and more areas of life. At the same time, the new feminist movement, the increase in women's employment and the entry of Swiss women into institutional politics have led to a renegotiation of the division of labour between the sexes.

Criticism of free labour and voluntary work in feminist circles

The traditional division of labour between the sexes came under attack in the 1970s. The new feminist movement condemned the expectation that women should provide essential services to society free of charge. At the same time, feminist projects such as women's shelters, advice centres and telephone helplines sprang up, filling gaps in the services provided by the welfare state. As autonomous spaces for women, they were places of emancipation and social change. But they in turn relied on the unpaid work of women activists. Their history is an exemplary illustration of the contradictions and institutional constraints of unpaid work under the influence of social upheaval and political change.

Recoding and raising the profile of volunteering - Knowledge production as a driver for change

In the 1980s, social science research interest in volunteering increased sharply. One of the reasons for this was the transnational politicisation of unpaid work. Important suggestions also came from the world of organised charity, which, by its own admission, was in crisis and looking for new ways to recruit volunteers. Since 1997, volunteering has been the subject of regular statistics in Switzerland and has become visible as work of systemic importance. This scientific approach has changed the public's perception of volunteering. Quantitative surveys make volunteering an object of scientific research and a political management objective.

See also Publications, conference papers, media contributions