Wo(MEN’s) Colleges: The Resistance to Maintain Tradition

• In Event: Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Gender and Education in Nontraditional Contexts

Abstract

Through the Women’s Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, wars, the United States’ financial ups and down and the changing of times, women’s colleges have progressed, transformed, and continue to try and stay relevant for twenty-first century women. Though the numbers of women’s colleges in existence are smaller than the past, they are still serving a purpose and meeting a student need. Subsequently, as these women’s colleges continue to serve female populations and espouse to maintain their women’s college identity, some are also enrolling and educating men. This paper, addresses which women’s institutions are enrolling men, which academic disciplines men are allowed to pursue degrees in and the level of transparency of their presence within the institution’s mission and vision statements.

Authors

• Lissa Place, Iowa State University

• Kathleen E. Gillon, Iowa State University