The Enduring Legacy: A History of Women's Colleges

Women's colleges in the United States have played a pivotal role in the history of women’s rights and higher education. These institutions, offering undergraduate, bachelor's degree programs and often emphasizing liberal arts, have historically provided exclusive or near-exclusive educational opportunities for women. This article examines the evolution of women's colleges, from their origins in the 19th century to their continued relevance in the 21st century, and explores the issues and challenges they have faced.

The Genesis of Women's Colleges

Before the rise of women’s colleges in the 19th century, higher education was almost entirely a single-sex institution, predominantly for men. The landscape began to shift in 1836 with the establishment of Wesleyan College in Georgia, the first college chartered to grant women degrees. This marked a significant step forward for women seeking higher education. Advocates of higher education for women followed two paths: establishing coeducational institutions or opening women’s colleges.

Driven by the prevailing social norms and a fear that college would cause women to abandon 19th-century femininity, the founders of women’s colleges created controlled environments for students and often had smaller campuses. While men attended colleges that commonly had sprawling campuses built around a central green, women’s colleges were often in a single building that kept students secluded from the surrounding community. The female seminary inspired these campus designs. In addition to giving women who wanted a college education a space to learn, women’s colleges also hired many more female faculty members than coed colleges. More than 50 women’s colleges were established between 1836 and 1875.

The Rise and Influence of the "Seven Sisters"

Some of the most prominent early women’s colleges were the "Seven Sisters," a group of schools that began admitting students between 1837 and 1889. These colleges stood out based on their commitment to high academic standards. The Seven Sisters - Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, Radcliffe, and Mount Holyoke - became the women’s equivalent of the Ivy League schools. At the time, the Ivy League almost exclusively barred women. still only enrolled men. With few alternatives, women seeking a college degree continued to turn to women’s colleges.

Many women’s colleges, like the Seven Sisters, operated as independent liberal arts colleges. But other women’s colleges offered religious curricula. From 1900 to 1930, 19 new Catholic women’s colleges opened their doors.

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The Shift Towards Coeducation

For over a century, women’s colleges thrived. In the 1960s, when many Ivy League institutions still refused to admit women, 230 women’s colleges granted undergraduate and graduate degrees across the United States. However, their appeal shifted as more colleges switched to a coed model. By the late 19th century, coed schools offered something that many women’s colleges eschewed: freedom. While early founders of women’s colleges implemented strict moral conduct rules to maintain women’s respectability, coed schools often enforced fewer restrictions.

Between the 1960s and the 2010s, the number of women’s colleges declined by over 80%. This drop was caused by many women’s colleges closing down or shifting to a coed model. Vassar began admitting men in 1967. Sarah Lawrence College made the same decision a year later. Pitzer College in California and Wheaton College in Massachusetts also went coed in 1970 and 1988, respectively. The change from women-only to coed wasn’t always uncontested. In 2012, private, coed colleges enrolled over 1,158,000 students, and over half of them were women. In the same year, women’s colleges enrolled just over 58,000 students.

Several graduates don women’s liberation signs at Harvard’s 1972 commencement. Eventually, Princeton and Yale began admitting women in 1969, with Brown University following in 1971 and Dartmouth in 1972. The lone Ivy holdout, Columbia University, did not admit women until 1983. By contrast, Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania had admitted women since 1870 and 1914, respectively. So why did the Ivy League go coed? According to historian Nancy Weiss Malkiel, it wasn’t a result of the women’s movement, but rather university administrators’ desire to stay competitive. Increasingly, male students admitted to single-sex Ivy League schools declined their admission offers to attend coed institutions.

Though some elite all-male colleges began creating affiliated female colleges, one Connecticut school made a startling announcement in 1909. Wesleyan University, co-ed since 1872, suddenly ceased enrolling women after some of its male alumni felt that coeducation lessened its standing among other elite universities. Wesleyan alumna Elizabeth C. Wright then formed a committee to consider establishing a women’s college, and it soon identified prospective sites across the state. Financial assistance followed from local businesses, surrounding towns, and the city of New London, which raised $135,000. An endowment of one million dollars from financier Morton F. Plant ensured the school’s development. The board of trustees chose Frederick H. Sykes (who had previously taught English literature at several other universities) as the college’s first president. Under the trustees’ guidance, construction began on the first campus buildings, including the Plant and Blackstone dormitories, New London Hall (which housed academic departments, studios, administrative offices, and a library), and others. The college hired a faculty of 23 men and women-many of whom held doctorate degrees-to teach rigorous courses in 14 majors.

That adventure continued throughout the 20th century, weathering two world wars, turbulent decades, and a major social shift which led the college to admit men in 1969. After more than 50 years as an all-women institution, the change to coeducation prompted the school to shorten its name to Connecticut College.

Addressing Racial Diversity

While women’s colleges prioritized accessibility based on gender, many did not enroll students of color. Some women’s schools, like the Seven Sisters, began admitting Black students in the late 1800s, but others took longer to integrate. Most historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were coed, though Spelman College was a notable exception as a women’s college.

The Role of HBCUs for Women

HBCUs have played a crucial role in offering educational opportunities, particularly for women of color. These institutions now enroll more than 228,000 students nationwide and offer new opportunities to students on just over 100 campuses across the country. There are only two all-women HBCUs today: Bennett College and Spelman College.

Bennett College

Bennett College is an all women HBCU that wants to prepare women of color through a transformative liberal arts education. They are focused on women leading with purpose, integrity, and a strong sense of self-worth. This college focuses on several areas including civic engagement, communications, global citizenship, leadership, and innovation. It was originally founded in a church in 1873 with 70 men and women attendees beginning at elementary school and secondary level studies. By 1878, a group of emancipated slaves bought the land the school sits on today. They added college courses and permanent facilities to create the school. In 1926, the Women's Home Missionary Society joined with the Board of Education of the church to make the school in Greensboro, North Carolina a college for women only. Due to its history with the church, Bennett College remains affiliated with the United Methodist Church. There have been more than 5,000 women who have graduated from this institution since 1930.

Spelman College

Located in Atlanta, Georgia, Spelman College is an all-woman HBCU dedicated to helping women achieve all that they can. Originally founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, the college transitioned names in 1924 when it became Spelman College. Spelman is an accredited college by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The student body today features over 2,100 students and the goal of the school is to empower women to engage the cultures of the world and provide positive social change through service. With a 76% graduation rate over six years, Spelman is pleased to have one of the best in the nation, but also prides itself on offering students connections long after they have graduated and left the campus.

The Continued Relevance of Women's Colleges

Despite the decline in numbers, women’s colleges continue to empower students in the 21st century. In 2020, fewer than 40 remained, but these institutions offer unique benefits. The Women’s College Coalition points to student-centered teaching styles, small class sizes, and liberal arts curricula as key differentiators. In 2023, women’s colleges continue their historic focus on building inclusive campus environments for women. They continue to prepare graduates for leadership roles and employ a high percentage of women professors and administrators.

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Institutions for women that once only admitted wealthy, white, Christian students increasingly prioritize socioeconomic and racial diversity. Nearly half of first-year students qualify for Pell Grants, and 94% of incoming students at women’s colleges receive financial aid. Women’s colleges also enroll a larger percentage of students of color than coed liberal arts colleges.

When it comes to granting STEM bachelor’s degrees, women’s colleges also outperform their coed counterparts. While 19% of women of color at coed liberal arts colleges pursue STEM majors, 34% of women of color at women’s colleges choose a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics bachelor’s degree. Women’s college alumnae are also more likely to pursue graduate degrees. Beyond the student body, women’s colleges offer leadership roles for women in academics. Women make up more than 60% of faculty at women’s colleges and 90% of college presidents. In comparison, women make up only 30% of college presidents nationwide.

The Global Landscape of Women's Colleges

Women's colleges are not limited to the United States. They exist in various forms around the world, including:

Barwaaqo University, Baliga Cas
Asian University for Women, Chittagong, Bangladesh
Jyoti Nivas College, Bangalore, India
Bethune College, the first women's college in South Asia
Govt. Begum Rokeya College, Rangpur, Bangladesh
Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi
Jinnah University for Women, Karachi, Pakistan
Keisen University in Japan
Lady Irwin College, New Delhi
Lahore College for Women University in Pakistan
Miranda House, New Delhi
Women's College, Aligarh, India
Assumption College San Lorenzo, Makati City
Miriam College in Quezon City
Philippine Women's University, the first women's university in the Philippines and Asia
St. Paul University Manila
St. Scholastica's College Manila
Duksung Women's University in Seoul, South Korea
Dongduk Women's University in Seoul, South Korea
Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea
Seoul Women's University in Seoul, South Korea
Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, South Korea
Sungshin Women's University in Seoul, South Korea

Most major universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are composed of two branches: a women-only branch and a similar male-only branch.

Historical Perspectives and Advocacy

Mary Astell advocated the idea that women were just as rational as men, and just as deserving of education. First published in 1694, her Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest presents a plan for an all-female college where women could pursue a life of the mind. The first college to partially realise Astell's plan was Whitelands College, a women's teacher training college opened in 1841 by the Church of England's National Society and since 2004 part of the University of Roehampton. Whitelands was followed by two colleges in London, Queen's College in 1848 and Bedford College in 1849. Queen's College developed into a girls' public school and Bedford College became part of the University of London before merging with another women's college.

Critics of the girls’ seminaries were roughly divided into two groups. The reform group, including Emma Willard, felt seminaries required reform through “strengthening teaching of the core academic subjects.” Others felt seminaries were insufficient, suggesting “a more durable institution--a women’s college--be founded, among them, Catharine E. Beecher. Another notable figure was Mary Lyon (1797-1849), founder of Mount Holyoke College, whose contemporaries included Sarah Pierce (Litchfield Female Academy, 1792); Catharine Beecher (Hartford Female Seminary, 1823); Zilpah P. Grant Banister (Ipswich Female Seminary, 1828); George Washington Doane (St. Mary's Hall, 1837 now called Doane Academy). Prior to founding Mount Holyoke, Lyon contributed to the development of both Hartford Female Seminary and Ipswich Female Seminary.

The Women's College Coalition

The Women's College Coalition is an association of women's colleges and universities (with some observers/participants from the single-sex secondary/high schools) that are either two- and four-year, both public and private, religiously-affiliated and secular. It was founded in 1972, at a time in which the "Civil Rights Movement", the "Women's Rights Movement", and Title IX, as well as demographic and technological changes in the 1960s brought about rapid and complex social and economic change in the United States. These societal changes put increasing pressure of perceived "unpopularity" and "old fashioned" perceptions and opinions placing the concept of "single-sex education" for both women and men on the most drastic downward spiral in its history. Additionally, the landscape of education dramatically changed as many previously all-male high schools (both private/independent and public) along with the colleges, many of which were either forced by official actions or declining attendance figures to become coeducational, thereby offering women many more educational options. At the same time with the similar changes forced on women's institutions, both private and public secondary schools along with the colleges/universities, forced a number of the larger number of girls schools to also coeducate.

Challenges and the Future

Despite women’s progress in higher education, problems remain in pay equality, stereotypes, and anti-DEI efforts impacting women’s resources. In 2022, women with at least a bachelor’s degree only earned 79% as much as men who were college graduates. In part, men are more likely to choose higher-paying majors. Around half of the wage gap comes from occupational choices - careers dominated by men typically pay more than those that employ more women. Gender influences these choices, too, with persistent stereotypes discouraging women from science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, for instance.

Even though women make up a majority of college graduates in the 21st century, the fight isn’t over. Recently, efforts to support women in higher education have also taken a hit. Some colleges have shut down women’s centers or folded them into general student departments to comply with state laws that limit diversity programs. That means the progress women have made could be harder to protect in the years ahead.

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