The recently announced decision to close Sweet Briar College has incited a movement of women and their allies who are passionately trying to save women’s colleges. Over the past 50 years, 186 women’s colleges have closed their doors. Many of these schools were founded in the 19th century as a response to women being barred from other avenues to higher education. Even though the world has changed and women make up the majority of college students, women’s colleges remain necessary.
Women’s colleges provide a space where women can assert themselves without worrying about seeming “overly aggressive” or “unladylike.” Even at a school like Brandeis, which constantly preaches the gospel of social justice, men often dominate academic discussions no matter how many women are in the classroom. Some may argue that we have moved past this predisposition to value men’s voices more than women’s in the classroom, and many professors do make serious efforts to divide attention equally between men and women. Yet these strategies are not enough.
A 2014 study concluded that faculty members were most likely to respond to emails seeking help from graduate students when the student was a white male. These subtle forms of bias are problematic, and impact women on a daily basis. Women’s colleges do not entertain these subconscious biases and are an important option for women who want to avoid these microaggressions.
This is especially important in STEM fields that are traditionally more difficult for women to access. STEM jobs represent a huge growth sector in the American economy, and the fact that only 31% of STEM degrees are issued to women is limiting. Women’s colleges have been pioneers in giving women greater access to science education. They are able to offer special programs specifically geared toward guiding women in science. Some may argue that science is objective and it simply recognizes the people who do the job in the best way possible, but as Henrietta Lacks, the Tuskegee Experiments and the field of eugenics represents, science has the potential to become a tool of the oppressors when minority viewpoints are not represented.
The benefits of women’s colleges extend outside of the classroom. Even though many women participate in extracurriculars, sometimes it is difficult to summon up the confidence to lead when many student leadership positions are held by men. For example, the Brandeis debate team (number two in the country) just elected its first female president in over seven years despite the fact that the majority of its members are women. When the idea of women leading is the default instead of the exception, women are better able to advocate for themselves and have their ideas respected. These social benefits can even be found in the ability to associate with other women without the omnipresent male gaze. There is a reason why one of the seminal works of second wave feminism, The Feminine Mystique, revolved around the experiences of Betty Friedan and her friends from Smith College in 1950s America. Women’s colleges can be a training ground for feminist ideas.
This is not to say that women’s colleges are perfect. Many have recently received a fair amount of criticism regarding their less than friendly admissions and accommodations policies toward transgender women and those who have non-binary gender identities. These are serious issues that need to be addressed, but the activism that many students at schools such as Smith have instigated demonstrates that women’s colleges can become safe spaces for people of many genders. Mount Holyoke’s recent decision to admit women in the process of transitioning indicates that this hope is not misplaced.
Women like Zora Neale Hurston, Gloria Steinem and Alice Walker received some of their formative training at women’s colleges. These women and their experiences have revolutionized our view of gender, and without women’s colleges they never would have had the opportunities they deserved. It would be a tragedy if these institutions faded from view.
