Word: loeser
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THERE ARE BASICALLY two things that Herta Loeser has to say in Women, Work and Volunteering. One is that women of all age, classes and occupational status can find something interesting and exciting to volunteer for. Hence it is good. Two is that volunteering, being unpaid and service, oriented, means helping other people. Hence, it is good...
...every kind of woman should not find satisfaction in volunteer work. And once the "helping others" argument has been disposed of--by quoting Derek Bok's 1972 speech to the incoming class (people should "devote [their] talents and energies in generous measure to the problems and welfare of others")--Loeser can get down to the main points, which concern how women can help themselves by volunteering...
...housewife can "enrich" her life by volunteering. A woman returning to work can gain valuable experience by volunteering. High school and college students can learn first hand about possible careers. And in a series of chapters strangely reminiscent of "Ask Beth" and her advice to lonely high school freshmen, Loeser recommends volunteering to widows divorcees, new people in town and retired women; and woman, that is, who is lonely and in need of company...
...problem with this book is that it is simplistic. There are many interesting problems raised by the issue of volunteering. She extols the virtues of volunteering in whole chapters while glossing over some of the more important questions in sentences. Loeser says at the beginning of the book that her pro-volunteering arguments apply to men as well as women. But her discussion of the economic situation that leads women to volunteering instead of working is limited to one well-intentioned aside: "...I cannot disagree with the charge that much service oriented volunteering has served so far to reaffirm stereotyped...
This sentence comes at the head of a chapter entitled "Feminism and Volunteering." Despite the observation, Loeser concludes that the benefits to be gained from volunteering--interesting work, a possible lead to a professional career, working in a situation that has been "pioneered by women"--overrides the disadvantages and make it possible for feminists to espouse service volunteering with no loss to their political commitments...