ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the literature and research on volunteering, discusses problems of defining and measuring unpaid and voluntary work, the history of and changes in volunteering, and offers explanations for the motivations of those who volunteer. Social science disciplines, particularly with the influence of feminism, have increasingly recognised the role of unpaid work in the society. The feminist input has been because unpaid work is predominantly done by women in the form of domestic labour and voluntary labour; a great deal of care work is done by women for no financial remuneration, and feminists have sought to address 'society's underevaluation of women and their contribution to social well-being'. The research found that both altruistic and psychic benefits were significant in women's decision to volunteer in refuges and crisis centres, and that they were strongly influenced to do so by their feminist political beliefs.
