The Relevance of Women's Colleges
"To best understand the relevance of places like Bryn Mawr in today’s world, we need to ground ourselves in the contemporary atmosphere for women."
"To best understand the relevance of places like Bryn Mawr in today’s world, we need to ground ourselves in the contemporary atmosphere for women."
Pictured above are the panelists for the Sister Colleges in Austin, Texas
Left to right: Jennifer Fondiller (VP of Enrollment at Barnard), Leykia Nulan (Dean of Admission at Mount Holyoke), Nichole Reynolds (Director of Undergraduate Admission at Bryn Mawr), Joanna May (VP of Enrollment at Smith), Peaches Valdes (Dean of Admissions at Wellesley)
There’s one question I answer more than any other in my line of work. Sometimes it’s asked explicitly, but more often it’s posed implicitly. It might be tucked behind a question about the benefits of attending Bryn Mawr. Or dancing around the edges of an ask about outcomes and how our alumnae perform in the “real world.” The question is this: Are women’s colleges still relevant today?
And it’s a perfectly fair question! Let’s be honest – most high school students don’t start their college search expecting to enroll at a women’s college. Not only do we live in a coed world, but of the 4,000 institutions of higher ed in the U.S., only 26 of us are women’s colleges, so why would we be top of mind for students? It is often the case, though, that at the broadest level, young women – and non-binary students and those who identify as female – are looking for exactly what we provide: an empowering, inclusive, collaborative environment where they can grow to their fullest potential academically, personally and socially.
To best understand the relevance of places like Bryn Mawr in today’s world, we need to ground ourselves in the contemporary atmosphere for women. Gender-based concerns can be found nearly everywhere we look and listen.
This month, the paternalism and sexism in Spanish soccer held center stage in the U.S. news media. This morning, a news clip titled “U.S. Army Report Shows Women Serving in the Special Forces Face Intense Sexism” caught my ear. But let’s zoom out some, to the issues that impact women broadly. On the social front, women’s reproductive rights have been rolled back by 50 years in many parts of the U.S. – I assume there’s no need to explain why a lack of bodily autonomy is problematic to women’s societal standing and advancement. A global lens allows us to see a consonant backslide in women’s advancement in Iran, which was recently ousted from the UN Women’s Rights Agency for its oppressive stance, and Afghanistan, where the Taliban has barred women from getting a college education among other places.
Professionally, women remain underrepresented in leadership roles in nearly all fields. And that underrepresentation is quite stark at the highest levels of leadership – fewer than 9% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. This disparity is pronounced in STEM and policy-making fields as well. The most recent U.S. Census data tells us that women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce but represent only 27% of STEM workers. And women tend to occupy more vulnerable roles in the workforce generally. Consider the fact that fully 70% of those on the frontlines of the pandemic were women, yet women make up only 21% of health policy decision-makers globally.
Financially, the gender wage gap is alive and well. In the U.S., the average woman earns just 82 cents for every dollar earned by a man. This disparity is even greater for women of color, with African American women earning just 60 cents and Latinas earning only 55 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men. Sadly, we see ample evidence of the gender wage gap in some of the fastest-growing and highest-paid STEM jobs of the future, like computer science and engineering, where, incidentally, women comprise only 25% and 16% of workers respectively.
Culturally, stereotype threat continues to impact women’s academic achievement and opportunities. Stereotype threat refers to situations in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of confirming negative stereotypes about one’s gender, racial, or ethnic group. At best, it causes anxiety, at worst, sustained self-doubt and avoidance of opportunities. We’ve all heard the myth that boys are stronger in STEM? In the classroom, data tells us that stereotype threat translates into girls not persisting into STEM fields in high school and college. We find another salient expression of stereotype threat in the gender leadership gap. I’ll quickly explain: The “qualities” of a leader — as well as the path to achieve leadership roles — are still largely based on an outdated male model that shuts women out. Moreover, because men have been leaders for so long, the traits associated with leadership are often thought of as masculine and not viewed favorably when exhibited by women. The resulting predominance of men in leadership roles then reinforces the misconception that women are less capable of leadership, causing not just the men but the women in a given organization to devalue women’s potential.
There are so many more data points I could share here, but I think those touched upon suffice to convey that the accrued weight of these social, professional, financial and cultural hurdles is staggering for women. It also suggests that spaces like Bryn Mawr are not only still relevant but are today – right now – more critical and more relevant than ever. Because we are the places educating, cultivating, and launching tomorrow’s female leaders – leaders who think and act inclusively, capably, globally, and collaboratively in the service of some of the day’s most pressing issues.
And our outcomes are proven. Did you know that less than two percent of women in the U.S. choose to attend a women’s college? As alumnae, that two percent is outsized in impact – our graduates claim entrepreneurial roles and positions of leadership across professions and at a statistically much higher rate than our female counterparts who attended coed institutions. And because we’ve been doing this work for centuries, establishing a deep bench of female leaders eager to empower the next generation of women’s college alums, those who attend Bryn Mawr College graduate into what is arguably the most powerful professional women’s network in the world.