Single- and Mixed-Gender Colleges for Women: Educational, Attitudinal, and Occupational Outcomes

Abstract

Critics argue that coeducation is ideologically egalitarian but effectively inegalitarian. This paper examines the effects of single- and mixed-gender schooling for women who attended both types of schools, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of the high school class of 1972. Women’s colleges have a strong, positive influence on both educational and occupational achievement; moreover, students in women’s colleges hold more positive views on equality in gender roles and manifest higher levels of self-esteem and self-control than women from coeducational colleges.