Women donate less to charity than men in some contexts

Given the chance, women are more likely than men to opt out of a request to give a charitable donation, a group of economists have found.

The issue of which gender is more generous has been debated for years. A new field experiment conducted by scholars at the University of Chicago and University of California, Berkeley shows that when it's easy to avoid making a donation, such as not responding to a door-to-door solicitor, women are less likely than men to give.

"The opt-out option lowers both the share of people answering the door and the share of individuals giving," he said. The drop in women's giving largely drives this change, List explained.

About three percent of women and men gave money when the visit was unannounced. When allowed to opt-out, men's giving dropped slightly, while women's giving fell to about half of the level of previous giving.