The world seems rather split on the issue of ‘same sex spaces’, and perhaps no more so than same sex colleges. Generations ago, America was full of male only universities, military academies, colleges, and schools, and slowly they have been forced to open their doors to women and girls, to allow them the same access as their male peers. Back then, women were underrepresented in higher education; so it’s hard to argue that such movements toward co-education, and equal access, were anything but a good thing. But since then – particularly following the advent of Title IX, which legislated gender equality – women have caught up with men in higher education, reached parity (in 1981) and in the forty years since, far surpassed them. Boys and men are now behind at every stage of education in America. The narrative has flipped 180, and now men are further behind than women were in the 1970s – and little is said or done about this unaddressed and growing gap in educational attainment. So as ‘male only’ educational institutions have accepted women, ought it be time for women’s educational spaces to accept men too? Well, when it comes to Mills College, perhaps the most infamous women only college in America, the answer was a resounding ‘no’. To them, they are ‘better off dead, than co-ed’. To remind us all, once again, that it’s one rule for them, and another for everyone else. So what is to be said about such spaces? Are these female only colleges just raising a generation of intellectually coddled, thin skinned women? And are they really preparing its students for the real world outside of its campus? Should we keep our same sex schools, or should women’s colleges open its doors as mens’ did to women generations ago? What do you think? ~ Digest of Education Statistics  Images by Katelyn Perry, Seyi Arriyo, and Black Kiwi Hug. #genderequality #education #educationmatters

2023-11-14