How First-Year College Women Construct Identity Through Cocurricular Involvement

Abstract

This ethnographic study relies on a combination of participant observation and 43 in-depth interviews to explore how first-year college women construct identities in cocurricular settings. Findings indicate that students relied primarily on two gendered identity strategies to engage with peers in cocurricular groups. Some women presented as nurturing caregivers while others presented as amicable nice girls. Although these strategies facilitated a degree of inclusion, they also carried significant social and emotional costs. Efforts to police these gendered identities restricted college women to narrow styles of self-presentation. As peers demanded consistent performance of femininity, women were pushed to the margins of cocurricular groups.