Applying Social Role Theory to Gender and Volunteering in Professional Associations

In the context of professional societies and trade associations, social role theory hypothesizes that women’s and men’s volunteer roles will also reflect gendered choices that persist even after controlling for parenting, professional experience, education, race, country of residence, and other potentially mitigating factors. Our sample includes 12,722 members of 23 diverse US-based international professional societies who participated in a survey of volunteer behavior in 2007. Using probit regression analysis, we find that gender continues to influence volunteer behaviors within professional settings. Instead of a pattern of male and female preferences for certain roles, we find that women are consistently less likely than men to engage in most volunteer activities common to professional association life. However, this gender disparity is partly neutralized when women are older and fully employed. Overall, social role theory provides a significant but incomplete perspective for understanding the volunteer behavior of professional society members.