Why Women’s College?

After having had a few conversations on this topic in the last little while, I am excited to blog about why I think women’s college is still relevant. I have been promising to write about this FOREVER, and it’s finally here!

Before I begin, you should know that I was NOT a women’s college believer from the start. In fact, I was totally against it! Back in highschool, I really wasn’t proud of being a girl. I associated being a girl with caring about makeup, clothes, boys, and almost nothing else. I thought girls were annoying, catty, dramatic, and superficial, and I did NOT want to be one! Going to an all-girls school was the LAST thing on my to-do list.

Going to Brescia completely changed my views. Meeting so many awesome women who were smart, funny, talented, and driven showed me that being a girl wasn’t so bad. I recognize that all of the “stereotypes” I had learned about girls when I was growing up weren’t always true. Girls, like any other group of people, are very different: they have different interests, strengths, goals, talents, styles, attitudes, etc.

Going to women’s college has been a huge advantage: in more ways than even I realized at first! In my second year, I was so curious about what made it worth it to go to women’s college that I ended up writing a 20 page paper on it! I would love to share some of the insights I gained through that paper and through my Brescia experience with you.

However, before I explain some of the benefits of going to a women’s college, I have to convince you of an important fact:

Barriers STILL exist for women in university.

Having the opportunity to go to university is something most of us take for granted. We live in a society that tells us that “men and women are equal” and girls can “be whoever they want to be”. However, did you now that just over 100 years ago women couldn’t attend university at all? In fact, there were a lot of “scientific” arguments out there about why education was actually dangerous for women! Consider this quote:

“The degrees of University we consider inappropriate to ladies for this reason…their bestowal upon women [would open] them to the professions and employments of public life, a consummation devoutly to be deprecated.” Queen’s College Journal, 1876

Back in the early- and mid- 1900’s, women attending university went against a social system that believed only men were fit to participate in public life. Women were supposed to stay at home and raise families. It was even argued that women were “too fragile” and might become infertile from University study!

Although this attitude has changed (mostly!), if you look carefully you can still see its effects today. How?

Think about it: for a very long time in university history (at least until the 1940’s-70’s when women’s participation started increasing) who was attending university? Who was conducting research? Who was research being conducted about? Who was writing books and textbooks? Who were the leaders? Who was winning awards and building up seniority in their career? Who was getting the academic support necessary to succeed? Who had teachers and role models to look up to?

MEN!

When you think of it this way, you can see how the university system was initially built by men, for men. And, it’s not like the arrival of women at university wiped away that entire history.  Nope, the textbooks that were used, the research that was taught, the people who had attained seniority: all of this was still male-based. And some of this tradition still carries on today.

So what makes women’s college different?

• Including women in the curriculum. You’d be surprised at how many textbooks today still underrepresent women or portray them stereotypically. Flip through some of the ones you have. How often are women pictured or discussed compared to men? When women are included, what are they doing? Women’s college profs may make a very conscious effort to pick textbooks or course readings that represent the research and achievement of both men and women, and encourage students to consider and celebrate the contributions of women.
• Attention to “men-centered” (androcentric) or gender-stereotyped language. You’d be surprised at how often “men-centered” or “girl-biased” language is used in the classroom or in classroom materials. When a women’s-college professor gives examples in class, she may be more likely to use non-stereotyped examples (e.g. Suzy the scientist instead of Suzy the homemaker), or female pronouns (just like I did in this sentence). Although it is subtle, I believe that it makes you feel like women really EXIST.
• Having successful women (mentors) to look up to. At women’s college, there is usually a high percentage of women involved in the faculty and administration- often a much higher percentage than at co-ed colleges ((for example, in 2008, only 3 out of 19 ontario university presidents were women by my count)! At Brescia, many of the key administrative personnel, like the Principal, are women, not to mention lots of professors. Research has shown that it can be helpful for women to have same-sex mentors to support them in their lives and careers. This has certainly been my experience at Brescia.
• A safe space on campus. Sexual harassment and assault is an important issue that women face during their college years. As well, in some universities or colleges, negative, derogatory, or inappropriate behaviour towards women may not taken seriously enough (for example, professors or students may commonly make sexist jokes or use terms that demean women without this being taken seriously. Or campus newspapers may print material that is not very women friendly, like an article published by Western’s student newspaper in 2007 that brought awareness of a campus culture that may not be kind to women). Women’s colleges can make an effort to address women’s issues specifically and ensure that campus is a friendly place for women to be, where women are valued and safe.
• Opportunities to participate. At women’s college, the vast majority of student leadership positions and other involvement opportunities are filled by women! For example, on students’ council, the President and all of the VP’s will be women, whereas in co-ed institutions that may not always be the case. Did you know that, since 1965, only 5 of Western’s Students’ Council President’s have been female (the article was written in 2007, and last year’s President Emily Rowe was female)? However, since the BUCSC was founded in 1947, every Students’ Council President has been female!
• A place to explore gender issues and to work for change. As a lot of my above points illustrate, gender issues are very present in university. Going to a women’s college helps to bring some of these issues to light, and, if we wish, to start to make change. This isn’t to say that every person who goes to a women’s college wants to study gender. In fact, I personally feel that one of the benefits of a women’s college is the ability to study whatever you want (like Foods & Nutrition, Politics, or Philosophy)! However you can still start to see, in small ways or big ways, how gender plays a role in your life and in society in general.

So that’s it! My take, based on my research and experience, on why women’s college (in general) has some advantages. But I’m not the only one who’s written about it. If you want to read more about women’s education, you can check out some info on the Women’s College Coalition website!

What are your thoughts?!

Kate