Throughout history, the predominantly female nonprofit work force has made significant contributions to American society. When Jane Addams established Hull House in a Chicago slum at the turn of the century and helped found the social work profession, the nonprofit sector work force - mainly female volunteers - had only limited access to prestige and power.

In today's nonprofits women are found at all levels of the organizational power structure working as executives, board members, managers, staff members, donors, trustees, and volunteers. Elizabeth Dole, for example, directs the multimillion dollar operations of the American Red Cross. But many women workers in the nonprofit sector remain concentrated in the lowest-ranking jobs.

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This landmark book explores the nature and extent of the power women have and do not have in the voluntary sector. In eleven original chapters, experts from a variety of disciplines such as anthropology, economics, sociology, and history, as well as nonprofit practitioners address topics such as the powerful role the women's movement has played in enhancing the status of women in nonprofits; the effect on the nonprofit sector of women's increasing labor force participation; the influence of gender, race, and social class on women's status in the nonprofit sector; how women in nonprofits use power; and who really holds the reins of power in the nonprofit sector.