Why a Women's College?
As I am writing this, I am consciously procrastinating my final paper for grad school. Yes, even adults procrastinate their work sometimes. But I wanted to write this post because my final is about single-sex education, and I thought it was a timely topic to address as some of you reading this may be planning your summer college road trips and thinking about why you might want to attend a women’s college.
In all transparency, I did not attend a women’s college, but I did work at and attend an all-girls summer camp for 10 years. While a six-week summer in the woods of Maine is a bit different than four years in Morningside Heights pursuing academically rigorous courses and making new friends, the crux of the experiences is more aligned than you you think. When I was a kid at an all-girls summer camp, I didn’t think twice about the experience (mainly because I was a massive fan of The Parent Trap and this camp may or may not have been the place of inspiration…I’m sworn to secrecy). It really wasn’t until I became a counselor, years later, that I saw the effect a place void of competition, gender performance expectations, and honestly, young boys, had on these campers. They felt free to step out of their comfort zones, try anything from archery to dance, and become a bolder version of themselves. My campers regaled me with tales of them returning to their coed schools in September and the noticeable change in their proclaimed self-worth by themselves, peers, teachers, and parents.
College is like camp in a way (sans the 7 am Reveille played on a trumpet) because it emphasizes exploration. Barnard was created out of resistance during a time when women were not permitted to seek degrees of higher education. What stands today is an institution dedicated to providing spaces for women and marginalized students who may have been overlooked or told their opinions didn’t matter because of one or more aspects of their identity.
A women’s college seamlessly blends conversations around gender, sexuality, race, and class into conversations. Whether you are in a neuroscience or comparative English literature course, how the topics in your readings relate to the lived experiences of those who look like you are related to your academic work comes to light effortlessly. By removing that sense of inadequacy so many of us have been fed throughout our academic journeys, Barnard molds to fit your needs and expectations, not the other way around. Of course, you leave the college with strong relationships and a hearty academic portfolio, but none of that would be possible if the main message of the college weren’t: “You matter. We see you.”
I could feed you the stats about women’s colleges (how its graduates have greater access to jobs, internships, and graduate programs because of the unique education and network) but I’ll leave you with the experience our current students have. A graduating senior told me about how she took a course at Columbia one semester, and the makeup of the students was coed. During one conversation, she had raised her hand to elaborate on a point and was quickly cut off by a male student. The student described to me a sort of “out of body” experience as she confronted the student to say she wasn’t done speaking and he could add to her point as soon as she concluded. She returned to her comments with ease. When I asked her about this experience, I asked her what led her to feel she could stand up for herself, something she admitted to never having done before. She looked at me and shrugged, saying “Because I know what my thoughts and I are worth now.” That’s what you get from a women’s college.