Women’s Colleges

Institutional Sector Report

ELPS 427
David Comp
Women’s Colleges
Definition of a Women’s College
Women’s colleges are colleges that identify
themselves as having an institutional mission
primarily related to promoting and expanding
educational opportunities for women. Most
institutions of higher education currently have
majority female enrollments; women’s colleges
have predominantly female enrollments.
Source: Women’s Colleges in the United States: History, Issues and Challenges
By: Irene Harwarth, Mindi Maline, and Elizabeth DeBra
Women’s Colleges
Historical Origins of Women’s Colleges
The development of private secondary schools for young women
("seminaries") during the early 1800's was the beginning of an interest in
furthering educational opportunities for women. Women’s colleges were
founded during the mid- and late-19th century in response to a need for
advanced education for women at a time when they were not admitted to
most institutions of higher education. Societal trends such as an increase
in labor-saving devices in the home, a shortage of teachers due to the
growth of common schools, a proliferation of reading materials for women,
and more philanthropic and some limited employment opportunities for
women due to the Civil War led to an increased demand for higher
education for women.

Source: Women’s Colleges in the United States: History, Issues and Challenges
By: Irene Harwarth, Mindi Maline, and Elizabeth DeBra
Women’s Colleges
Early History of Women’s Colleges

1772 - Salem Academy founded in North Carolina, chartered as a college in 1866.

1836 - Wesleyan College chartered in Georgia, granted first degrees to women.
1852 - Mills college founded in California. (oldest women’s college in the West)
1873 - Foundation of College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Notre Dame was
established as a four-year college in 1895 and was the first Catholic college for
women in the United States to grant the baccalaureate degree (1899).
1873 - Bennett College, a historically black coed college, founded in North
Carolina, became women’s in 1926. (only other women’s college to begin as
coed institution: Bay Path College in Massachusetts, 1897).
1881 - Spelman College founded in Georgia as first black women’s college.
Source: The Women’s College Coalition
Women’s Colleges
 The “Seven Sisters”

In 1927 seven women’s colleges came together to form the “Seven

Sisters” in an effort to promote private, independent women’s colleges
and separate but equal liberal arts education for women.

Institutions that make up the “Seven Sisters”

• Barnard College (New York, NY)
• Bryn Mawr College (Bryn Mawr, PA)
• Mount Holyoke College (South Hadley, MA)
• Radcliffe College (Cambridge, MA)
• Smith College (Northampton, MA
• Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY)
• Wellesley College (Wellesley, MA)
Women’s Colleges
Notable Alumnae

 FIRST woman to be named Secretary of State in the U.S.,

appointed in 1997 MADELEINE ALBRIGHT,
Wellesley
 FIRST ever First-Lady to be elected to the Senate or Congress.
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, Wellesley
 FIRST woman Vice-Presidential candidate. GERALDINE
FERRARO, Marymount Manhattan
 FIRST woman president of a major university (University of
Chicago). HANNA HOLBORN GRAY, Bryn Mawr
Women’s Colleges
Notable Alumnae continued

 FIRST and only person to have won four Academy Awards for
acting. The American Film Institute voted her the nation's
leading screen legend of the 20th Century. KATHARINE
HEPBURN, Bryn Mawr
 FIRST African American woman to serve as moderator and
managing editor of PBS's Washington Week in Review. GWEN
IFILL, Simmons
 FIRST woman elected as Democratic Whip in the House of
Representatives (10/10/2001) - the highest post held by a
woman in the U.S. Congress; member of the 107th Congress
for the state of California. NANCY PELOSI, Trinity, D.C.
Source: The Women’s College Coalition
Women’s Colleges
Current Events and Issues at Women’s Colleges and Women’s Education

- Regis College and Randolph-Macon Woman's College in autumn 2006

announce they will become coeducational.
- Wells College began admitting men in 2005.
- Marymount College for Women merged with Fordham University in 2002.
- Rutgers University’s Douglass College (women’s undergraduate college) will
cease to exist as a separate degree-granting institution at the end of the 2006-
2007 academic year.
- Tulane University merged its H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College with the
undergraduate college for men in spring 2006.
- Sweet Briar College and Hollins University rededicate themselves to remain
single sex.
Source: “More Small Women’s Colleges Opening Doors to Men” by Diana Jean
Schemo, 9-21-06, New York Times.
Women’s Colleges
The Decline of Women’s Colleges
In the 1960’s there were approximately 300 women’s colleges but
today there are fewer than 60.

- Leading institutions such as Smith, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Barnard and Mount
Holyoke report they are doing fine. Small, less well-known liberal arts schools
are facing declining enrollments.

Some explanations for this decline:

- Women’s Liberation Movement
- Top institutions began opening their doors and granting degrees to
women.
- Title IX legislation for women’s sports programs