Date of Award

Spring 2019

Document Type

Capstone Restricted

Degree Name

Doctor of Public Administration (DPA)

Department

Public Policy and Administration

Committee Chairperson

Kristen B. Crossney, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Jeremy N. Phillips, Ph.D., MPA

Abstract

Abstract

This research contributes to feminist literature by expanding the works of Themudo (2009) and Evans, Mayo, and Quijada (2018 in relation to women’s empowerment and the nonprofit sector. Themudo (20129) identified a correlation between women’s empowerment and the nonprofit sector and suggested the need for a strengthened and more accurate gender theory. Subsequently, Evans, Mayo, and Quijada (2018) demonstrated a relationship between women’s political empowerment and nonprofit sector development. However, both of these studies only addressed the nonprofit sector as a whole, more commonly referred to as the third sector.

The expanded research brought forward by this study examines the nonprofit sector in its entirety as well as the individual subsectors of education, human services, and public-societal benefit. Through the use of Simple Linear Regression and Pearson’s R, and using data made available through Giving USA (2018) as well as Rutgers’ University Center for Women and Politics (CAWP), statistically significant relationships as well as strong and positive correlations were determined.

The independent variable from CAWP was the percentage of women in statewide elected executive offices. Four dependent variables namely, the nonprofit sector as a whole, the education subsector, the human services subsector, and the public-societal benefit subsector were harvested from the GivingUSA (2018) website, and represented monies contributed exclusive of any fee-for-service income. The independent predictor variable representing women’s political empowerment readily revealed billions of dollars in increased giving for every one percent movement in women in statewide elected executive positions. Therefore, the results of this research validate and elaborate the position the politically empowered woman holds in its value to the third sector of our economy.

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