Women's Colleges: A Legacy of High-Achieving Women
by Jadwiga S. Sebrechts, President, Women's College
Coalition
The United States is home to 82 women's colleges
today, located in 25 states and concentrated
heavily in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
and Georgia. Approximately one-third are
historically Catholic, approximately one-third are
affiliated with another religious tradition, and
one-third are independent. Three women's colleges
are part of the public higher education system in
their state and two are historically black
institutions. These diverse colleges share a single
overarching mission, however: They exist to promote
the educational achievement of women.
Women's colleges are setting application records as
they develop the talents and leadership potential
of their students. Consider the following
statistics, keeping in mind that only 2.5 percent
of all women who attended U.S. colleges and
universities during the last 30 years attended
women's colleges:
One-third of the female members of the boards of
directors of the 1992 Fortune 1000 companies are
graduates of women's colleges.
On a Business Week list of the 50 women who are
rising stars in corporate America, 15 (30 percent)
earned their baccalaureate degree from a women's
college. That number is six times greater than one
would expect given the percentage of women who
graduate from women's colleges.
On the 1991 Black Enterprise list of the 20 most
powerful black women in corporate America, 20
percent were women's college graduates.
One in seven women cabinet members in state
government graduated from a women's college.
Graduates of women's colleges are more than twiceas likely as graduates of coeducational colleges to
receive doctoral degrees. They are also more likely
to enter medical school or earn doctorates in the
natural sciences and other traditionally male
fields.
These are impressive statistics as measured in the
traditional terms of outputs and career achievements.
In her 1990 study, Daryl Smith of the Claremont
Graduate School concluded that women's college
students also derived greater satisfaction than women
in coeducational schools in their perceived changes in
skills and abilities, their educational aspirations,
their intellectual and personal growth, their
extracurricular opportunities, and their educational
attainment. Moreover, Smith's data suggest that women's
colleges provide an environment that fosters a high
degree of academic involvement, which in turn leads
to greater student satisfaction.
Numerous studies offer evidence of differing
learning strategies used by men and women in the
classroom and suggest that women prefer
cooperative, positive approaches to learning.
Catherine Krupnick of the Harvard School of
Education and Myra and David Sadker of The American
University's School of Education have published
compelling studies of the differences between men
and women in classroom discussions. Men command
approximately 2.5 times more class time responding
to questions than women do in the same classroom,
both because they respond instantly and are called
upon more frequently and because they receive very
different responses from the teacher when they make
a mistake. Female students are most often asked to
respond to factual questions, requiring little, if
any, analytic reasoning, and they are corrected by
the teacher when they make an error. Their male
counterparts are asked more complex questions
requiring critical judgment, and when they make a
mistake, they are encouraged to try to figure out
the correct response.
Student performance--and the expectations that
the classroom authorities have of student
performance in the classroom--contribute to the
development of the ego and self-esteem. It is not
surprising, therefore, that self-esteem assessments
of women at women's colleges have produced
substantially more positive results than those at
coeducational institutions.
Women's colleges are more prolific in their
production of science and math graduates, too. At
some women's colleges, between 25 and 40 percent of
students major in mathematics, the natural
sciences, and economics. In fact, the percentage of
majors in economics, math, and the life sciences is
higher in women's colleges today than it is for men
in coeducational institutions, and substantially
higher than for women in those institutions.
These statistics, like many of the others, can be
attributed to the distinct environmental
characteristics of women's colleges as well as the
teaching strategies that are employed. The
"development of talent" approach, rather than the
more prevalent "weeding out" approach, is practiced
at women's colleges. This makes a great difference,
especially in male-dominated disciplines. Mentoring
is an important component of teaching, not just an
occasional informal offering. Role models, often
cited as crucial to success by minority groups and
women, are readily available at women's
institutions. Moreover, 100 percent of the student
leadership opportunities are available to women.
These training grounds encourage the development of
skills that are easily transferable into
postgraduate life and achievement.
Whether one chooses a women's college because of
its academic standards, its capacity to empower and
encourage in particular career paths, or its
women-centered priorities, one gets a taste of
being in charge. And that lesson lasts a lifetime.
 The Case for All-Black Colleges
 Back to The ERIC Review on The Path to College
 Tribal Colleges: Tradition, Heritage, and Community
This page was updated on Thu Feb 1 20:29:40 GMT 2001
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