On Women & Go Fund Me Culture
There is so much to say about the sad gap that crowdsourcing fundraiser platforms like GoFundMe fill on behalf of a failed American healthcare system, a shrunken job market, and the fading American dream. Those topics could fill a series of articles in and of themselves. I can talk today instead of an observation I made recently while perusing a GoFundMe page created on behalf of a family highlighted on the Humans of New York’s Instagram.
If you are one of the 11 million readers of HONY’s IG, you know. The story is of a hardworking Peruvian family, a couple and their five daughters, now living in Georgia. Through incredible hardships, trial and error, the mother cured her daughter(s) of immune issues by feeding them a clean, thoughtful, wholefood-based diet. Over the years, she dreamt of opening her restaurant. Long story short, she finally opened it right as COVID-19 hit. It has been a struggle. The author of HONY started a GoFundMe page for the family, encouraging readers who enjoyed the story to pay it forward with a small donation. HONY has made its muses millionaires before, and they did it again this time. At the time of writing this, the fund was up to $1.2 million.
At the top of the donor list on the family’s GoFundMe phase, I noticed an immigration law firm had donated $3000, which felt like an intelligent PR move. As I scrolled down, it became clear that most of the other donations were readers like myself, leaving $50 or less. The donors’ names were just like mine; they were almost exclusively women: Maria, Dana, Jessica, Ashley, Karen, Maureen. Females were the most moved by the Peruvian family’s story. I could not help but feel a pang of both pride and sadness. American women are suffering tremendously under the pandemic, yet they seem most likely to lend a few bucks to another struggling family.
What does this mean in regards to women’s position in the economy and the boardroom? What does this say about men and philanthropy? Visions of MacKenzie Scott fluttered through my mind. Business Insider reported earlier this month on a 33-year low in the female labor participation rate, according to experts at JPMorgan. The same article also said that more than 2.3 million women had left the US labor force entirely since the pandemic began, versus nearly 1.8 million men exiting the workforce. The only thing clear is that the fate of females in the American job market is still blurry. As a recently unemployed mother managing childcare until daycare feels safe, I did not donate.
