In March, all-women’s Sweet Briar College in Virginia announced that it was no longer financially viable and would close its doors in August. The Class of 2015 would be the last to receive a Sweet Briar diploma.
After a long legal battle, Sweet Briar will remain open, and some arrangements have been made to help the school’s finances. But with no incoming freshman class and a high number of transfers away from the school, it’s likely that this is a temporary fix.
In the last 50 years, 185 women’s colleges have gone co-ed or closed; more than 20 of those changes have occurred since 2000.
Clearly, women’s colleges are in danger, and the Sweet Briar case has caused many conversations about the pros and cons of single-sex education.
Advantages of women’s colleges include:
- All leadership roles are held by women. This is important considering the gender disparity in politics and positions of power in large companies.
- Women’s sports aren’t swept under the rug. At most institutions, men’s athletics get more attention and, consequently, more funding.
- Women have more opportunities to speak up and assert themselves in both in and out of the classroom.
- Students are in a safe, inclusive environment. Holly Nadel, a rising Sweet Briar senior, told me that “women’s colleges are LGBTQ* safe places, even in the South” and that there are likely fewer incidences of rape on campus.
And yet, many young women–including me–rule out women’s colleges when planning their futures or see the single-sex composition as a neutral factor rather than a draw.
Amelia Ley, a rising senior at Mount Holyoke College, explained, “Internalized misogyny still exists along with all the myths about how awful women are in a group…As anyone who has taken a tour at a women’s college know, students who want to date men are often scared by the supposedly limited dating prospects.”
Her last point is key.
I would’ve never chosen a single-sex institution because I highly value opposite-sex relationships (both platonic and romantic). I wasn’t interested in having an entirely female-focused social life, no matter the quality of the education. A women’s college would feel incomplete to me.
But I also wonder how much of that decision comes from the old idea that you’ll find your future husband at college, and that going to a women’s college equates to loneliness. Young women are subtly or overtly told that they’re ruining their chances of finding future happiness and companionship if they choose a single-sex institution. That’s the rhetoric we need to get rid of.
Interpersonal relationships are important in college, but so is having a safe space to grow as a leader. For some, women’s colleges are the best places to create and strengthen their voices. We can’t allow women’s colleges to disappear. We can’t stop empowering young women to speak up, speak out, and speak for themselves.
Interviews were conducted as part of my research for “Sweet Briar College to Close,” originally published in Buzzsaw magazine. While some of the legal information in that article is now outdated because Sweet Briar will remain open, it includes more discussion of the economic & social feasibility of women’s colleges and serves as a companion to this piece.
For more Feminist Friday goodness, see the summer schedule.
Victim to Charm 
Really, you’re supposed to meet your future mate at uni? When you haven’t even lived or seen the world? Wow. Really glad I missed that memo :) And I seriously considered Mills in California for all the advantages you gave; Tulane had the better architecture program and I chose there instead.
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You’re lucky you missed that one — it’s pretty much accepted around here (Alabama) that more than likely, you’ll meet somebody in college and get married right after graduation. I’ve been asked several times if I was in school for my “MRS degree.” Infuriating.
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It’s not as strong of an expectation in other regions but there still is a lingering concept.
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Gah! I can’t believe people would still ask that. Here it seems to be less of an issue.
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It really made my head spin! Wow. I must have been a Class A nerd. I was so excited I got a massive scholarship and I was going to study with some of the best in the business. Sure, I dated some, but it was never a priority. And if I had met my husband at 20 or 21, we would never have clicked. Our experiences on our own (travelling, being expats, working) brought us together. Though I am glad I became a mother in my late 20s – it’s fun ‘growing up’ with my tween.
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Same back home for me. HUGE MISTAKE on my part marrying my college boyfriend (now ex) a year after graduation. I don’t regret the friendships I made or education I got at a co-ed school but I kind of wish I had gone to Bryn Mawr and realized I was bi and dated feminists (not fake allies!) instead.
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Just to be clear: marrying after college was perpetuated by my co-ed public high school/community, not my college. That was a reason why I thought I didn’t want to go to an all-women’s college, which I deeply regret and obviously don’t agree with.
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It’s good that you followed your academic strength!
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The only time in my education when I was in a women (or at that age girls) only class was my last year of elementary school. I was in the last girls only school, since the Catholic institution had started opening to boys about a few years before I enrolled (I stayed there until end of high school). In university, we were about half-half men and women, but in professional cinema school (that I attended before university), women were a minority, and many of them were very happy with the hooking up possibilities it opened. I didn’t mind being in the minority but being uninterested in the dating/hooking up scene, I did feel quite lonely at times, since I didn’t fit the mold. As for interaction at university, I’m glad I wasn’t supposed to meet a husband at this time, because we barely ever interacted with fellow students outside of class times.
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So it wasn’t your minority status that made you feel a bit alienated but rather your priorities. Interesting!
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Exactly! I had otherwise no problem transitioning from a Catholic small private high school to a professional cinema school where I was the youngest one (people in my promotion were from my age to 8 years older). I was the only girl in a group of 7 during first year and it was okay. I just felt so out of it because what I wanted was educate myself, not hook up.
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I wish that I had known that serious dating in college wasn’t for me, and that I had okay enough with myself to leave it alone or to get out of the relationship instead of feeling trapped. My education came first, but what were you thinking, 19-year-old me?
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I think part of why I didn’t even think of an all women’s college was that I have always found being surrounded by women to be intimidating! I didn’t even opt for the all-female dorm at my college because I am just used to having guys around. My own experience was never one of them being held up as “better” than me for any reason other than their own merits. I appreciated the different perspective that they always brought to the floor.
But I was never into sports, and my interests tend towards the humanities, fields where I think that the gender divide is less prominent. If I had been a sports or science/math person I wonder if I would feel differently.
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I didn’t opt for the all-female dorm either, although I did end up in all-female wings/floors.
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Not me, it was all-female dorm or all-co-ed. Yup, co-ed bathrooms…. One of those times where I was often saying “eh, I grew up sharing a bathroom with three boys… ” when talking to other people.
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Loved living in the two co-ed floors (the honors floor) at undergrad. My best friends were the guys down the hall.
The gender divide in humanities is also pretty bad, just different. In Japanese studies, women tend to be hired for language-teaching-component jobs vs. strictly teaching Japanese studies (for those who have PhDs in anthro, soci, history, lit + Japanese, not for people in linguistics or language pedagogy). Also, there’s this weird assumption that your degree is useless, moreso for women, and that it’s a bullshit degree to find a husband. The job market isn’t great for that either. I do wonder about people who do their MA/MBA/PhD at all-women’s universities though, since undergrad seems more prevalent.
The inclusion of genderqueer people, trans women and trans men into all-women’s colleges is A++, though.
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This whole idea of people going to college to find husbands is so antiquated for me. I mean, I know some people who certainly did find their spouses while in college, but the expectation of it isn’t something I’ve really encountered so much. So strange to me that it’s a thought process or expectation that is still out there!
Hmm.. I wonder about the advanced degrees at all-women’s colleges as well. You mostly hear about undergrad.
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I experienced moving from a co-ed, American high school to an Australian girls’ school when I was in my sophomore year of high school. It was tough to change from a fairly liberal environment to a more conservative/traditional one, and to adjust to wearing dowdy uniforms and having no boys around. With an older brother, I was used to being around boys as friends, and the move required me to leave my first boyfriend. But in girls’ school, it was easier to show my smarts, to be in leadership positions, to take risks and to grow academically and socially in ways I would not have chosen if I had stayed in my American, co-ed environment. I joined the debate team, took college-level math, and developed closer relationships with girls than I had previously. Still, I was glad to return to coed life when I went to college!
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Which is why women-only institutions can’t disappear entirely–they’re important, even if they don’t reflect the coed world.
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I went to a formerly-women’s college in Alabama. It was still about three-quarters female, I think, although I don’t remember the exact number. And I can definitely confirm it was a super queer campus and a safe place to be queer.
I never would’ve gone to a women’s-only college, though. I just can’t stomach that kind of segregation, even if it’s got some benefits in putting women in authority positions. A women’s college would not get the same respect or the same resources and funds, so a degree from one wouldn’t do me as much good and I wouldn’t get the same quality of education. Separate is never equal.
Plus, in Alabama anyway, I would assume a women’s-only college would be very religious and focused on homemaking and how to support your husband, and that’s the opposite of what I want. (I can absolutely see how some people might be dissuaded from it on the basis of “not being able to find a husband,” but here it would be the opposite.) And I wouldn’t interact with any male people, and I don’t see how that’s a benefit, given how segregated high school usually was even if we had co-ed classes. I know girls who are practically incapable of speaking to males at all because it’s just never happened on a regular basis, until they get to college.
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There’s also the issue of learning how to hold your own only around other women. If you still retreat once men are in the room, that increased leadership didn’t ACTUALLY do anything for you.
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Your view of the relative value of a degree from a women’s college is shortsighted at best. My degree from Sweet Briar is looked at as a huge strength and I work for arguably one of the most male-dominant employers in the nation – the US Navy -as an engineer, where unlike many women I am capable of the same if not better accomplishments and can carry a conversation with anyone better than most of my peers. As for “segregation” and being unequal: there were men who took classes at Sweet Briar – we had a tri-college consortium with Lynchburg College and Randolph College, both co-ed; and there was a men’s college nearby where we could take classes too. Men were always on campus, we had male and female professors, many of us held off-campus jobs, took prestigious internships, performed original research, competed on nationally ranked athletic teams. To view attending an institution that serves women as “segregated” is a reflection of your lack of understanding of the value of single sex education for what it provides. The curriculum was not religious or focused on how to be a wife. I have no idea where you would have gotten such an outdated notion. Comparing the education at a single sex liberal arts institution to that of a co-ed college as “sub-par” or lacking in quality is likewise ignorant. Wow, I think you should visit Sweet Briar during the upcoming semester and then re-post an actual informed opinion.
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Reblogged this on Part Time Monster and commented:
Check out the feminist Friday discussion today on the disappearance of women’s colleges, and drop a comment on the thread.
I’ll be over later with some Thoughts About This—I went to school at Mississippi University for Women, which was the first public women’s college in the U.S. and then in 1982 was required by a Supreme Court case to start admitting men.
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Reblogged this on Just Gene'O and commented:
Only a couple more of these left in the summer run. Best go & chime in while you have the chance :-)
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I am amazed at the antiquated beliefs being espoused by those commenting here! Let’s get some facts straight (and these are pretty much true at all all-women colleges, not just Sweet Briar):
1. All-women does not mean no men. Most women’s colleges have very good relationships with men’s colleges, and even co-ed ones, that lead to ample opportunities to meet men.
2. LGBTQ-friendly does not mean Hetero-unfriendly. It means that all the students are in a safe place, no matter their orientation.
3. If you are going to college for the primary reason of meeting a future husband, you are a fool. You do not need to pay for a $100,000-$250,000 education to get a good husband. To even believe such a ridiculous concept is so repulsive I don’t even begin to know how to rant!
4. If, as a woman, you are intimidated by other women, then you are in a really sorry state. Hiding in the back row of a co-ed classroom dominated by men is never going to teach you to stand up for yourself. This is the type of person who desperately needs what an all-women college can give you – CONFIDENCE.
5. Any woman who chooses her college based on the social life over the quality of education needs to reexamine her motives. You can create a social life no matter where you are, but a first-rate education is not something you can create just anywhere. All-women colleges are much more likely to lead you to successful careers than co-ed colleges are. There are plenty of studies that prove that.
6. Degrees from all-women colleges tend to hold more respect in the working world than co-ed degrees because your employers know two things about you: you were taught to speak up and stand out, and you were more interested in a quality education than you were in finding a husband.
So, quit whining about not having boys in your classes and start thinking about the best way to get a college degree that means something and go to an all-women college.
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You seem to be “rebutting” things that were not actually said here. But can you link us to the studies that women’s colleges lead to more successful careers? That would be important information to have for this discussion.
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I will have to hunt for the study again. In the mean time, perhaps this will help:
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/carrie-wofford/2013/10/24/why-you-should-consider-a-womens-college
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Graduates of women’s colleges comprise more than 20 percent of women in Congress and are 30 percent of a Businessweek list of rising women in corporate America.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elisabeth-pfeiffer/womens-colleges_b_2277623.html
To quote another comment on a similar article: “You don’t have to surround yourself with imposed adversity to thrive. The basis of an education through a women’s college promotes the ability to think and lead in a way that matches the demands of the outside world. Congratulations being part of a minority at your institution, but by playing into this position you are creating a gap and an us-against-them separation that women’s colleges are not trying to ignore but rather use a greater community to remedy.”
Finally, if you really must see a preponderance of single-case evidence, here is something anyone can understand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_alumnae_of_women%27s_colleges_in_the_United_States
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I never once hid in the back of a classroom. I shone academically, I served (and took) leadership roles as fit my desires and interests. The school I chose for undergrad was picked because the academic program excited me (basically requiring the equivalent of an MA thesis for my BA) and was very demanding of the students. I chose it because I loved the setting, the classes and the philosophy of education.
I have many female friends whose company I enjoy, but I also get a great deal from my male friends and am so glad for the undergraduate experience that I had.
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And, I feel like I want to clarify my earlier comment as well. “Intimidating” is perhaps the wrong word to use (the result of trying to write a response while half-distracted and typing on my phone – my bad). Though I think it does still apply, it is more nuanced than being intimidated by, say, being in a place that is largely female.
So, to be more specific:
1) I have never been in the company of just females. All of my social groups, since I was a kid, have been co-ed. My brothers were my best playmates when I was very little, and throughout school my social groups always had a mix of boys and girls. When I did find myself in groups that were primarily female the drama level was HIGH and I found it to be a ridiculous waste of energy. The idea of attending a school with that same potential did not appeal to me, ever. The option of being in a dorm that was all female was something I didn’t opt for because of this reason as well.
2) My academic experience in relation to other females was a higher competition level for things that didn’t really matter. It was females that I always encountered in discussions about who had the higher grades, that I saw trying to undermine one another in academic pursuits. A high GPA is all well and good, but it is not THE primary sign of a good, quality education. Maybe I just had the misfortune of being around a lot of competitive females (and am somewhat competitive myself) but this kind of focus did not appeal to me either.
3) I chose my educational experiences very carefully. I selected the high school I attended (an arts and writing focused magnet school which required an application process) because of its size (small) its academic program (high standards and an Integrated Thematic approach) and because I wanted to be somewhere that would encourage me in my writing and arts as well as my academics. I was able to refine my leadership skills there from being a bossy kid to recognizing what makes a good leader — and I was given ample opportunity to practice those skills in the school. I found out recently that my mom had wished she could send me to the private, all-girls, high-school in the area because she thought it would have been a good place for me academically but we both agreed that I was able to get an as good (if not better) experience with the school I found for myself (which also had the benefit of being a public school so not costing us a fortune we did not have).
I chose my undergraduate school because of its size (small), the academic rigor and writing requirements, it’s location (rural), and because I just KNEW it was the right place for me. As I said above, I never once sat in the back of a classroom while men dominated the conversation. I had an equal piece in all the academic conversations and as much of a chance to take leadership roles within the community as any guy.
I chose my graduate school because of its size (small), the quality of the program and the community. Again, I excelled academically (graduating with the highest GPA of the entire graduating class) and took on a great deal of leadership roles.
So, yes, I may have chosen the wrong word but.. maybe not. Because I do think about what it would have been like for little 18-year-old me to have stepped into a place where I was surrounded by women. It would be intimidating, because it would be so different from anything else I had experienced. It would, likely, NOT have been the right choice for me. I am not saying it is not the right choice for anyone, but for me it was not a path I wanted to take.
That does not mean I lack confidence, leadership skills, or somehow gained a sub-par education. YES, there are plenty of women who could benefit from the all-female education, I’m sure, but it is not for everyone and I think that the phenomenon of small schools closing (it isn’t just all-female schools that are closing their doors either…) reflects shifts in how people are approaching their education.
There are a lot of ways to gain confidence and I think that the idea of being intimidated (when a teenager, especially) by going somewhere that is all-female does not reflect a lack of confidence (or a need for that kind of an education) in any way.
There is no “one size fits all” ANYTHING for ANYONE.
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During the Sweet Briar controversy there was a lot of discussion of “is this a women’s-college issue or a small-rural-college issue?” Both of the interviewees mentioned in this piece also cited Sweet Briar’s somewhat outdated culture–exclusive organizations, conservative-leaning, preppy/upper middle class. Maybe not a place that’s expanding & adapting to modern young women, coupled with a small size and semi-isolated location. Women’s colleges with a better national reputation seem to be doing okay.
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Aren’t most clubs founded and sustained on the basis of some form of exclusivity? Are women invited into fraternities? No. Are chess players welcomed onto the football team? Only if they excel. My point is, the traditions and tap clubs at Sweet Briar illustrate a unique culture which does what all good things do best: not conform to some collective norm, but exist as means to express individuality. The college traditions are fantastic. Are all attendees going to like it? Not at all. Conservative-leaning? In what capacity? Sweet Briar was a liberal environment which welcomed people from all over the spectrum of politics, gender-identity, nationality, religious (or non-religious) backgrounds. There was no official church affiliation and no imposed religious or conservative curriculum (unlike a nearby institution which was known for graduating scientifically illiterate conservative bigots, but conformed to the notion of “big and co-educational” which seems so highly desirable – maybe they are taking applications?). Semi-isolated from what? A metropolitan area? Lynchburg city was 20 minutes away, Charlottesville was 45 minutes away, Richmond was two hours. Plenty of people commute that far on a daily basis for work and consider themselves in a “metropolitan area.” Rural does not mean isolated. Small size was the best aspect, not a detractor. What does “better national reputation” mean? Sweet Briar has a fantastic reputation. I’d like to see some objective evidence of your criticisms for Sweet Briar that are not tainted with opinion, please.
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One thing that is hinted at but not expressly mentioned in this post is that for the typical college student, the university area is a closed or nearly closed environment. Even students with vehicles find that parking is difficult and far away from living spaces (usually), meaning that for convenience’s sake, they spend the vast majority of their time with other college students in college or student-friendly venues–and in my university, fewer than half the students had vehicles. If all their fellow students are other women, then their social group is pretty lopsided. I agree with you that I would not have chosen a non-coed university for that very reason.
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I lived off-campus and had a car, and still spent most of my time with other students on or around campus. That’s where my friends were, and it’s not like anyone else was offering mostly-free pre-designed activities and whatnot. And if it was more educational and less purely social, the kinds of events I was more likely to go to, of COURSE it’s going to be students on or near campus…
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You’re right, Tracy, and actually women’s colleges that have access to coed institutions (think Mount Holyoke as part of Amherst, Scripps as part of Claremont, Barnard as part of Columbia) seem to be plenty successful & not in danger of closing.
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I wanted a film degree and didn’t want to move TOO far away from home, so that pretty much left me with UCLA. I didn’t look into whether any women’s colleges/uni offered film degrees; this was before the interwebs, If there were/are, maybe I missed out on that experience, but given that I grew up in all-female household, college is where I learned to interact with those strange beings known as “males.” Getting an “MRS” degree was so far off my radar, the Hubble telescope would have trouble finding it. It still is, decades later! ;-D
Spoiler alert: I ended up getting a job nowhere near my film degree. Such is life.
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I’m not sure there are any single-sex film institutions.
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I suppose I have a unique position on this one. I got my undergrad degree from Mississippi University for Women. It was opened as the first public women’s college in the U.S. (yes there were other women’s colleges first, but they were private colleges). Its status as a public university led to a Supreme Court Case in 1982. (Incidentally, this was the first SCOTUS case that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor ruled on.)
A male student wanted to attend the MUW Nursing School (which then and now is one of the best in the Southern U.S.) but could not. He sued and won the right to attend the university as it is a public institution. Under Title IX, the institution couldn’t be both public and exclusively for women.
The university is still a predominantly female environment, and it is very small, with about 2,500 students and more than 3/4 of them female. When I attended the college, staff had to either use the acronym MUW, the nickname “the W,” or they had to spout “Mississippi University for Women, Admitting Men Since 1982.” After I left, there were several moves to change the name, as well as an attempt by the then-governor to consolidate the university with the nearby Mississippi State University, which has always been a brother-school to the W.
None of that succeeded, and I can’t help but be happy about it. Even so, I am glad the university does admit men and that I attended school there after men were allowed to attend. I don’t favor exclusive spaces.
I went to the W because it was small and had a large emphasis on women’s education and history. I got an amazing education, and I had a lot of unique experiences. The town (Columbus, MS) was small, and so was the school—sometimes that felt suffocating. But overall, I’m glad I was in a small place that tried so hard to maintain a focus on women while extending opportunities to men.
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I kind of like the idea of women’s colleges that also admit men (and presumably other genders). That seems like a good compromise, to maintain those female-focused spaces without actually setting up something exclusionary. That’s the part I really wouldn’t be able to deal with, much as I’m repulsed by the idea of a “male-only” school.
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I’d love to know, Diana, if the women there harbored any resentment towards the male admits. One of my interviewees for the magazine piece is a Wells professor & alumna. She attended Wells when it was all women, and later taught during the switch to coed. She said that it was surprising how once men were on campus, they were almost treated like heathens, even after the last class year to attend the single-sex Wells graduated. It’s calmed now, but I found that fascinating.
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I think among the initial few classes, especially, there was resentment. But that seems to have faded away in all but the older alumni now.
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Two observations: one, this fits in neatly with what I was intending to talk about next week, and two, one of my best friends went to Smith College in Northampton, MA, which is an all-women’s college, and she wouldn’t give up the experience for the world. The social aspect only makes sense if the students aren’t allowed to leave campus; as it turns out, college generally doesn’t work like that.
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It seems like this run has had relatively cohesive topics, which is awesome. I’m pretty sure Smith College is part of the Amherst consortium, right? Having access to coed environments is one of the things my interviewees for the magazine article said helped to make a single-sex environment viable.
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That’s correct.
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That Amherst Consortium…. I seriously considered Hampshire (until I fell in love with the school I ended up with) and the fact that it did have that close connection and cross-school exchange was a huge part of that. I feel like higher education in general can benefit from that kind of thing
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I looked at Hampshire too, but the vibe on campus just felt off to me. Not sure why, exactly. Plus the student at the info session said she was studying wine & cheese-making and my mom turned to me and said “If we pay $50,000/year for you to go somewhere you’re NOT studying wine and cheese, okay?” She wasn’t really on board after that.
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Hehe, yeah. Where as my mom’s line was “We traveled 3,000 miles for you to look at this school now, get out of the car!”
But, you know, I’d already fallen in love with somewhere else.
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Hmmm. I think the discussion of the value and the differences in the environment are pretty well covered here, and I’m liking all the experiences & different impressions of single-sex education shared here. My question is the practical one: If women’s colleges are too valuable to lose, how do we get enough students to attend them to ensure that they remain viable?
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That’s always the question. If you read the full magazine article, there’s some discussion of that. I think women’s colleges will continue to close until there are a handful of very strong, successful women’s colleges–places that balance professional aspiration and quirky radicalism, that have access to a coed environment (read: not isolated), and that are modern institutions overall (Sweet Briar is sorta antiquated in its ideologies).
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Again, where is your evidence? What ideologies? I believe you could actually use the internet to do actual research to support your claims, but you provide nothing but opinion.
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This is so interesting to me. I wasn’t aware of the situation with Sweet Briar. Then again, I’ve heard of Sweet Briar but that’s about it. My knowledge of the college isn’t extensive. I have a friend at Mount Holyoke and she absolutely loves it there. All I’ve ever heard from her are positive things about her experience there. That said, I would have never chosen an all women’s college, either–for very much of the same reasons you gave. Not only was the prospective of not having any males to possibly date horrifying to me as a high school senior, but to me (even today) there seems something off about not having those male relationships and interactions both inside and outside of the classroom.
You bring up a lot of really good points, though, Sabina. All-female does not equate to no men at all and there are certainly a lot of positive aspects of the all-women’s college. I think all-women’s colleges are valuable in our male-dominated society and I also think this conversation is really valuable and should be more openly discussed.
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I’m glad you put in your two cents, Britta! They definitely are valuable, and I think encouraging young women to see them as options is important.
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Also, consider the amount of fatigue I get being around “normal” people, especially cis het men (and women), is THROUGH THE ROOF. I’m not sure I could handle co-ed school undergrad again. Grad school was way better because my cohort and the PhD students in my classes were like 60% queer (more like 90% in gender studies classes) and also badass women researchers who didn’t take shit from anyone and were great collaborators. If I could have that all day every day? Yes, please.
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I don’t think I’d want to go to a single-sex college but I think the option should be there for those who DO.
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Same, Lizzi. But it’s tough because many women are also in that boat and it’s hard to keep women’s colleges alive
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Maybe there’s something in the format of the OU, which could work, although you wouldn’t get all the campus socialisation the same, but there could be meet-ups and things…adunno really.
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I dunno either. It’s a tough issue.
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Everything evolves, doesn’t it – if there are enough women who want these places, they will stay. They just might be fewer and further between, I suppose.
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Some great things to think about. I actually considered a couple women’s colleges back when I was looking where to go. My main reason for not going was that I fell in love with the school that I ultimately ended up attending, but I think there are some definite advantages to a women-only college.
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Your posts always get me thinking!!! Great ideas here. – Seri from http://www.Serisblog.com
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Thanks Seri!
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I think that’s an interesting idea behind the reasoning…. for me personally, I simply equate single-sex colleges as religious. I’m not sure why, but I always assume they are religious, and since I am not, and do not want to be in an uncomfortable situation where I will feel like an outsider, I would never have considered single sex education, beyond the fact that I also value the interaction with all genders (not just the basic two). It would feel equally weird to me if there were a LGBT-only university, or Whites-Only, This-Age-Only, etc. school.
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Probably a higher number of them are religious but they don’t HAVE to be. I agree with you about wanting a diverse student body, though, no matter what groups that represents.
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My alma mater, Converse College, was added to the list. They went co-ed for lack of funding, and I am heart-broken. 1 in 5 girls is sexually assaulted before age 18. Until rape culture is addressed in American co-ed campuses, women deserve a safe space to discuss women’s history and issues.
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