Male volunteers Why??? please tell

watsgone

Hi,

I work with two voluntuarly groups mainly and I help out evry now and then with another.
I notice that there is not that many male volunteers.
Is there a reason for this, How can we change this.
Especially with youth groups you need the guys around.

Any ideas

watsgone

Male volunteers


Hi,

I work with two voluntuarly groups mainly and I help out evry now and then with another.
I notice that there is not that many male volunteers.
I am not saying that guys don't do a lot of good, don't get me wrong.
Is there a reason for this, How can we change this.
Especially with youth groups you need the guys around.

Any ideas, what could we do to get you guys interested???

Plez add your suggustions.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

You're not talking about chugging, are you??

connundrum

watsgone wrote:

Is there a reason for this, How can we change this.

There appears to be a distinct lack of €€€'s to be made from volunteering, seriously. I'd pretty much say that'd your reason there. Its all about the money.

Maybe when we (me included) realise that we can't keep taking, then it might change.

Ruu_Old

Moved from AH.

r3nu4l

It really depends on what type of activity you are talking about. Scouting and Civil Defence are full of male volunteers for the reason that they are often outdoors, and acive as well as appealing to the inner child (lots of climbing and 'adventure').

If you gave us some idea of what activity(ies) you are involved in it might help towards reciving a more constructive answer.

watsgone

Oh no defiantly not chuggers.

I am talking about youth groups, I am in the Order of Malta my self and there is a clear female majority.

Also forige and the scouts seem to really need to made up the numbers.

Its mainly working with teenagers.

r3nu4l

Well when I was a Scout, all the leaders were men, When I was a Scout Leader my fellow leaders were men also.

I finsihed with Scouting when I moved to the UK and the long commute and longer work hours didn't allow me time to continue my scouting as I couldn't commit to be there even one week a month and kids really need stability and to get to know their leaders, so they trust them.

As someone who would love to be back Scouting I'm not really qualified to answer why men don't like to volunteer. I do agree that a healthy balanace of men and women is needed.

There is no shortage of men who volunteer to coach football and other sports so perhaps that's where most of them are doing their volunteering. Maybe there is no shortage, they are just volunteering in an arena that you don't volunteer to work in?

Think about it.

Sleepy

I've often thought about volunteering for something but tbh, finding time to do anything outside of work is extremely difficult. Maybe it's something to do with men being more inclined to sacrifice social time to their careers?

Or maybe it's just the fact that more men are involved in sports clubs (whether playing themselves or coaching underage teams) and have less time to devote to things like youth groups etc?

TBH, personally, I'd have no interest in something like the Order of Malta/Feroige etc and can't think of anything that would get me involved as from what I can see most of them are affiliated or heavily dominated by church groups. During college I did offer my time to an organisation called 'The Gaf' in Galway which was basically a 'hang-out' for teenagers that organised gigs, quizes and provided mental health / safe sex information, counselling services etc. but never got a call back from them. Think it's run by the Western Health Board. Anyways, I do know that there are far more women that are religious in Ireland than men so maybe the dominance of the Catholic church in so many youth groups etc is something which others find off-putting too?

watsgone

r3nu4l wrote:

There is no shortage of men who volunteer to coach football and other sports so perhaps that's where most of them are doing their volunteering. Maybe there is no shortage, they are just volunteering in an arena that you don't volunteer to work in?

Think about it.

True, there is no shortage for sport etc, and I have a great respect for that I really do. And I just wonder why people have no interest in the area I am in.
Is there any thing that can be done.


I find what Sleepy said very interesting that was the way it was before but the Church has little involvement with the OMAC anymore expect for the annual mass though that is more like a prayer service.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

watsgone wrote:

Oh no defiantly not chuggers.

I am talking about youth groups, I am in the Order of Malta my self and there is a clear female majority.

Also forige and the scouts seem to really need to made up the numbers.

Its mainly working with teenagers.

Ah, now, there;s you problem - paedophobia.

Men, especially single men, are terrified of winding up in an incident whereby they may be accused of at best, improper conduct and at worst, paedophilia. And with that issue, as we all know, accusation is automaticlly assumed as guilty.

When we read such stories in the media, we believe them. We might say we don't, but we'll still keep our guards up and keep our distance from the accused. Those of us who have kids well keep a tighter reign on them. If the accused party is then found innocent, news will travel much slower than if found guilty. The more naive of us might even assume that justice has not been done or someone got it wrong.

If we then complain that men don't like working with kids or teenagers, we are being hypocrits. This is a society in which we truly get what we want, even if we don't want it.

leeroybrown

Sleepy pointed to what I think is the main reason above. I think that men are just less interested in a lot of the social/community organisations that find it difficult to find volunteers. Also, I think that we men tend to be less interested in a lot of the voluntary groups. As bad as it may sound, I think we just 'care less'.

Whenever I've helped out voluntarily it's been because I was interested in what I was doing. I don't have a strong enough interest in most of the standard avenues of volunteering to commit my time.

That said I would never describe my self as a particularly empathetic person anyway.

watsgone

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

Ah, now, there;s you problem - paedophobia.

Men, especially single men, are terrified of winding up in an incident whereby they may be accused of at best, improper conduct and at worst, paedophilia. And with that issue, as we all know, accusation is automaticlly assumed as guilty.

When we read such stories in the media, we believe them. We might say we don't, but we'll still keep our guards up and keep our distance from the accused. Those of us who have kids well keep a tighter reign on them. It said accused is then found innocent, news will travel much slower than if found guilty. The more naive of us might even assume that justice has not been done or someone got it wrong.

If we then complain that men don't like working with kids or teenagers, we are being hypocrits. This is a society in which we truly get what we want, even if we don't want it.

I understand this as a fear, but as a young female I want to see guys working with teenagers.
Wait a minute,,,, I came up through the ranks and have fond memories of the leaders(guys n girls) that I had and when I see the boys in the groups now I feel bad for what they are missing out on.
Its a pity but its true people have that idea.
I have been vetted to work with young people and have done the courses and know the policys.
If opportunities were made for guys to access all of these resources would that help.

leeroybrown

Also, to add to my point above, I think that quite a few of the guys I know/knew kept playing sport well into their 20's and some beyond. By comparison most of the girls didn't do this.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

watsgone wrote:

I understand this as a fear, but as a young female I want to see guys working with teenagers.
Wait a minute,,,, I came up through the ranks and have fond memories of the leaders(guys n girls) that I had and when I see the boys in the groups now I feel bad for what they are missing out on.
Its a pity but its true people have that idea.
I have been vetted to work with young people and have done the courses and know the policys.
If opportunities were made for guys to access all of these resources would that help.

I'm sure they have the resources, but attitudes have to change first. Not yours - yours is fine, fair play for making hte point - but nationally nothign realistic will happen until attitudes across the board change and yes, youngsters will still miss out.

It's the same with the dwindling number of male teachers.

watsgone

Attitudes must change, this is so true.

Until then we do the best we can.
Maybe I will contact some of the sporting groups see if anyone is interested.

peewee18988

Heya mate. Name is Peter, 21 from Dublin. To be honest I have applied to do work for the Simon community and trocaire and got no response. I am a university student and have a fulll driving licence. Can't understand it at all.

The Real B-man

Ive noticed this aswell the voluntary work i do has more females than males maybe men arent interested in voluntary work anymore could be seen as not the thing to do nowadays??

watsgone

peewee18988 wrote:

Heya mate. Name is Peter, 21 from Dublin. To be honest I have applied to do work for the Simon community and trocaire and got no response. I am a university student and have a fulll driving licence. Can't understand it at all.

What!!!!!!!!! this is something that I just can't understand.
Peter I would welcome you with open arms, Its a pity your in Dublin.
An experience like that would put people off trying.

To the Bman
Is there anything we(even just here on the boards) can do to change this mind set.
This is a very important issue

RainyDay

The Real B-man wrote:

Ive noticed this aswell the voluntary work i do has more females than males maybe men arent interested in voluntary work anymore could be seen as not the thing to do nowadays??

Maybe highlighting the current bias towards female participation might attract more men?

watsgone

RainyDay wrote:

Maybe highlighting the current bias towards female participation might attract more men?

Ha true RainyDay.
Okay to all young guys who have a few hours to spare a month, and would like to give something back and meet some nice people please contact a local charity.

Maybe someone will post this that everyone can see it. If I am not mistaken Volunteer Day is coming up.

Come on we can make a difference even if its only a small one

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

watsgone wrote:

Ha true RainyDay.
Okay to all young guys who have a few hours to spare a month, and would like to give something back and meet some nice people please contact a local charity.

Maybe someone will post this that everyone can see it. If I am not mistaken Volunteer Day is coming up.

Come on we can make a difference even if its only a small one

Out of interest, have you brought this issue up with the charities you work with? What was their responce - is it a problem they've encountered themselves?

watsgone

Yes I have brought it up a couple of times to no avail, it seems to be left to the side a sort of we got to make the best of what we have situtation.

Though there are people of the same mind as me on the matter.

sunnyjim

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

It's the same with the dwindling number of male teachers.

Its a pity alright. I'm a student teacher at the moment, and in the class I am in, there are only 2 other lads, and 15 girls. And this is for teaching science to secondary students, not even primary teaching :eek:

And that paedophobia post hits alot of nails on the head with the one blow.