Funding Feminism: Monied Women, Philanthropy, and the Women's Movement, 1870-1967

"I mentioned earlier that some people want to cancel billionaires and also cancel billionaire giving. I don’t think it is possible to cancel private generosity. Even in communist states, when you weren’t allowed any private initiatives beyond the control of the state, people still found ways around it. People want to help each other. It’s a human instinct to act morally. But let’s say it was possible to cancel philanthropy or billionaire philanthropy. As many others have pointed out, the first price would be paid by the most marginalised and vulnerable people, which often is women around the world. The availability of contraception and abortion, in many countries, is funded through philanthropy, people like Warren Buffett. I read an article about how women’s reproductive rights rely heavily on philanthropy. In the UK, that’s all provided by the NHS—it goes back to the point about different countries having different gaps for philanthropy to fill—but in the US philanthropy is a key provider of contraception and abortion services. I found the source book for that claim was Joan-Marie Johnson’s book, and I gobbled it up in the same way that I enjoyed the other historical studies. Before reading it, I had not appreciated the extent to which some wealthy women have used their privilege, including their monetary power, to make positive change happen for all women. This idea that philanthropy is power is often said as if that’s obviously a bad thing: any use of power is necessarily an abuse of power. What Johnson shows is that, yes, people do have power with resources, but you can use it well. Her book includes the powerful example of Mary Garrett, who offered to fund the medical school at Johns Hopkins University, but only if women students were allowed to enter on equal terms with male applicants, and become doctors. Imposing that condition was clearly an example of a wealthy donor exerting financial power, but I think we would all agree today that was a good use of power. Johns Hopkins didn’t let women students in because it was the right thing to do, they were forced to do so in order to receive the funding they wanted. Joan Marie Johnson charts the many ways that women’s education, career prospects, control over their reproductive systems, and ability to vote have all been dependent, at various times, on wealthy women being allies of all women. We appreciate the power of allyship in other areas of life. I think philanthropy could be usefully viewed as one way that people of wealth sometimes act as allies, rather than being viewed through a more negative lens. What I hope to achieve with my book is to get across the idea that, while it might seem quite satisfying to criticise rich people, we need to think it through and be sure we understand the consequences of damaging the reputation of generosity. We think we know what charity and philanthropy are because they are such a common part of everyday life. But private giving is a lot more complicated than it appears, and its impact may be more positive and significant than we give it credit for. A woman somewhere may lose access to contraception, or a child somewhere may not get a vaccination. We need to be more careful and nuanced when we criticise philanthropy. I hope my book helps to highlight the positive role that philanthropy has played, and can continue to play, and that it makes critics more aware of the unintended consequence for everyone, especially the most vulnerable, when we think we’re just having an enjoyable pop at rich donors."