Institutional Effectiveness of Women-Only Colleges

Abstract

Cultivating Students' Desire to Influence Social Conditions Very few higher education professionals would be surprised to hear that the number of women-only colleges in the United States and their student enrollment declined dramatically between the 1960s and the 1980s. However, as Kim and Alvarez (1995) noted, that decline did not result from institutional ineffectiveness or lack of contributions to student development. Nor should anyone be surprised by the widespread and intuitive belief that higher education institutions in general not only change students' academic, social, and career outlooks, but also affect their values and attitudes. Consistent with reports by Feldman and Newcomb (1969) and Astin (1977, 1993), Pascarella and Terenzini's synthesis of research on college impact (1991) supports this belief. Pascarella and Terenzini's summary, however, suggests that the effects of attending different types of institutions (e.g., women's colleges and black colleges) on value and attitude changes have been largely ignored in higher education research. Similarly, ex isting studies of women's colleges have focused mostly on career achievement and career preparation (Anderson, 1988; Kim & Alvarez, 1995; Oates & Williamson, 1978; Rice & Hemmings, 1988; Riordan, 1994; Stoecker & Pascarella, 1991; Tidball, 1973, 1985, 1986; Wolf-Wendel, 1998), while only a few studies have looked at students' academic development (Kim & Alvarez, 1995; Smith, 1990) and their leadership development (Miller-Bernal, 1993; Whitt, 1994). Moreover, except for some reports on changes in self-confidence (Kim, 1996; Kim & Alvarez, 1995; Whitt, 1994), virtually no research has been conducted on the effect of attending women-only colleges on students' value and attitude changes. My interest in this area was raised further by reading studies that reported high visibility of the alumnae of women-only colleges among high achievers listed in Who's Who and Who's Who of American Women (Anderson, 1988; Oates & Williamson, 1978; Rice & Hemmings, 1988; Tidball, 1973) and among congresswomen (Harwarth, Maline, & DeBra, 1997; Natividad, 1987) and women college presidents (Touchton, Shavlik, & Davis, 1993). Forty-four percent of the female members of Congress attended women-only colleges (Harwarth et al., 1997) and 22% of the women presidents of four-year public institutions were graduates of women-only colleges, although women-only colleges have educated less than 2% of college women in the country since the late 1960s (Harwarth et al., 1997; Touchton et al., 1993). In their study of women's leadership, Astin and Leland (1991) found that half of their sample of female leaders, classified as instigators, had graduated from women's colleges. Philip (1993) reported that nine out of ten women-on ly college alumnae have participated in at least one civic or professional organization since graduation. Thus, two questions arose: (1) Why are graduates from women-only colleges so visible among politicians, influential leaders, and achievers in spite of the small proportion of women attending women-only colleges in the United States? (2) Is it possible that women-only colleges cultivate students' desire to influence social conditions differently than coeducational colleges? The effectiveness of women-only colleges should be investigated to provide policymakers and the public with empirical data about how these colleges serve and cultivate their students. To accomplish this, at least two approaches can be taken. The first approach would be to examine whether women-only colleges better develop the knowledge and skills (e.g., academic ability and leadership skills) to be successful leaders, politicians, and achievers than do coeducational institutions. The second approach would be to discover whether women-only colleges more effectively cultivate students' civic values and their desire to influence society and to actively participate in politics than do coeducational institutions. …