Volunteerism, Inequity, and the Right and Responsibility of Work

Volunteerism is often celebrated as altruistic, yet in unequal contexts it can both exploit unpaid labor and deny vulnerable individuals opportunities for paid work. This article argues that while the right to work is fundamental to dignity, work must also be understood as a responsibility: to sustain oneself, provide for dependents, and fulfill the human condition of becoming. When volunteerism substitutes for employment, it privileges those who can labor without pay while excluding those for whom work is a necessity, thereby reinforcing inequity and obscuring the deeper meaning of work as both right and responsibility.

Volunteerism is often portrayed as a moral good, a practice through which individuals freely contribute their time and energy to the betterment of society. Its civic appeal rests on ideals of generosity, solidarity, and shared responsibility. Yet the social and economic structures in which volunteerism is embedded complicate this narrative. In contexts of persistent inequality, volunteerism can become not merely an act of service but a reflection of privilege, and in some cases, a mechanism of exploitation.

When organizations rely on volunteers, they often substitute unpaid contributions for positions that might otherwise provide employment. This reliance saves resources for institutions but carries a profound social cost: it normalizes the devaluation of work, particularly in domains such as caregiving, education, and community service, which are already historically undercompensated. The effect is twofold: the extraction of labor without wages from those who can afford to give it freely, and the exclusion of those who cannot afford to labor without pay but are simultaneously denied the chance to earn a livelihood.

This exclusion reveals the inequitable dimensions of volunteerism. For those with secure financial standing, volunteering is a choice that enhances social capital, builds networks, and generates reputational value. For those without such security, however, unpaid labor is not feasible. Individuals in economically precarious circumstances are therefore often absent from volunteer spaces, missing out on the opportunities for social inclusion and recognition that these roles provide. Thus, volunteerism, while ostensibly inclusive, can reinforce the very inequalities it seeks to redress.

Framed through the perspective of human rights, the issue is not service itself but the displacement of work that should rightfully be waged. The right to work is enshrined in international human rights law, premised on the understanding that dignified labor is integral to human well-being. Yet this right must be seen in tandem with the responsibility of work: the responsibility of individuals to sustain themselves, to provide for dependents, and to participate in the collective processes that uphold social life. Work is not only an economic necessity but also a condition of becoming. A being becomes fully itself through its activity, through the work it performs in relation to others and the world. To deny individuals the opportunity to work is therefore not only to undermine their right to livelihood but to inhibit their capacity for becoming.

Volunteerism, when allowed to replace paid employment, risks undermining this dual dimension of labor as right and responsibility. It valorizes the contributions of those who can afford to give without compensation while marginalizing those whose existential and moral obligation to work cannot be fulfilled through unpaid service. In doing so, volunteerism contributes to a system in which privilege is reproduced, inequity persists, and the deeper meaning of work—as both a foundation of dignity and a condition of human flourishing—is obscured.