Most of my research branches out into sociology, psychology and other areas, so many thanks for these helpful references.

Dear Veronika you might find something in: "A Literature Review of Empirical Studies of Philanthropy: Eight Mechanisms That Drive Charitable Giving" http://nvs.sagepub.com/content/40/5/924Theonline version of this article can be foundat:DOI: 10.1177/0899764010380927September 20102011 40: 924 originally published online 10Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 

 You can download it from Academia.edu

Additionally, I suggest you look into articles on social capital, including gender and social capital which frequently refer to women's participation in NGOs and voluneer organizationa or social movements is higher than that of men's...

I would look to the work of Sara Lei Sparre and Amira Mittermaier. Great analytical perspectives can also be found in the work of Clara Han.

Check Silvia Arrom, she is a very serious historian about female charity. Arrom, Silvia. Containing the Poor : The Mexico City Poor House, 1774-1871 Durham, NC: Duke U Press, 2000. Print. Arrom, Silvia. "Mexican Laywomen Spearhead a Catholic Revival: The Ladies of Charity, 1863-1910." Religious Culture in Modern Mexico. Ed. Nesvig, Martin Austin. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. 50-77. Print.

An interim thank you to everyone who has replied so far!

Thank you Tobias, I'm working on the gendered dimensions of Swedish rural civil society and these references look very interesting 

From a historical perspective, I can recommend 2 books:

Frank Prochaska, Women and Philanthropy in Nineteenth-Century England (1980)

Maria Luddy, Women and Philanthropy in Nineteenth-Century Ireland (1995)

And I have a paper on my academia page on different mechanisms employed for fundraising my male/ female groups (again historical)

Many thanks, Sarah, very helpful indeed.

I have been doing research for a few years on Islamic charity in Pakistan.  I have not yet published anything related to gender and charity, but I have found that all kinds of charitable associations (indigenous institutions, formal non-government organizations, and political party-based charities) rely heavily on women as staff, especially as volunteers, even as these associations neglect some of the fundamental needs of the women they serve.  Women, for their part, are often willing to become the embodiment of selfless volunteerism because family and society are reluctant to prevent women from going out of the home to do social welfare work, as charity is a religious obligation in Islam.  Thus, work at an Islamic social welfare association gives many women access to a public sphere that they might otherwise not have.

What I found in my work in Sweden (http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415890373/ ) was that women work increasingly in voluntary organizations but often not as chairpersons. Many are opting to work outside in their own informal networks that link up to more mainstream organizations.

Deer Christopher, dear Seema,

many thanks for your insights from two very different contexts. A similar pattern to that in Pakistan has been described for 19th century England and Ireland.

Veronika