JN -- I completely agree with you. For me, one of the many benefits of having attended a women's college was realizing that women could be anything -- because at a women's college they have to be everything. The political leaders, the cultural figures, the athletes, the RAs; filling every campus job and position, taking every class. You get used to seeing women doing absolutely everything, and that sets you up for taking that for granted in the "outside" world -- which is a good thing. That way, you take for granted that women can achieve whatever they want -- professionally, personally, at work, at home, etc.
And then of course there was the benefit of realizing what the world could be like if it were physically and emotionally a safe space for women, where women's physical, personal, psychological needs were taken very seriously -- and not ridiculed or minimized, as, for example, the safety issues were at the co-ed school where I studied abroad during my junior year.
Being in a women-focused environment 24/7 isn't being cloistered: it's being able to see an "ideal world" where women are concerned -- what the "outside" world could be like if women were treated with equal respect and dignity.
And actually, now that I think about it -- there's a parallel in the Jewish communal world, as well. The Jewish community believes that the most effective mechanisms for building a strong Jewish identity are just these same kinds of 24/7 environments -- but of course they're 24/7 Jewish rather than 24/7 women (though sometimes both!). The best examples are Jewish summer camps and trips to Israel, where you're around Jews all the time, in a holistic, organic, entirely Jewish environment. The very air is Jewish -- so you realize that being Jewish is something that affects every aspect of your life, that waterskiing can be Jewish, that time can be Jewish, etc. -- and, obviously, it (ideally) makes being Jewish an entirely positive thing. This gives you new perspective on what it's like to be Jewish in a mixed environment, and ideally gives you some kind of strength to maintain that positive Jewish identity in a non-Jewish world.
I think the same applies to single-sex education -- it's an excellent mechanism for building a strong identity as a woman, whatever that winds up meaning to you, and it helps you glimpse, briefly, an ideal world -- a vision that you can then use to inspire and sustain you in the often less-than-ideal world "outside"...
JN -- I completely agree with you. For me, one of the many benefits of having attended a women's college was realizing that women could be anything -- because at a women's college they have to be everything. The political leaders, the cultural figures, the athletes, the RAs; filling every campus job and position, taking every class. You get used to seeing women doing absolutely everything, and that sets you up for taking that for granted in the "outside" world -- which is a good thing. That way, you take for granted that women can achieve whatever they want -- professionally, personally, at work, at home, etc.
And then of course there was the benefit of realizing what the world could be like if it were physically and emotionally a safe space for women, where women's physical, personal, psychological needs were taken very seriously -- and not ridiculed or minimized, as, for example, the safety issues were at the co-ed school where I studied abroad during my junior year.
Being in a women-focused environment 24/7 isn't being cloistered: it's being able to see an "ideal world" where women are concerned -- what the "outside" world could be like if women were treated with equal respect and dignity.
And actually, now that I think about it -- there's a parallel in the Jewish communal world, as well. The Jewish community believes that the most effective mechanisms for building a strong Jewish identity are just these same kinds of 24/7 environments -- but of course they're 24/7 Jewish rather than 24/7 women (though sometimes both!). The best examples are Jewish summer camps and trips to Israel, where you're around Jews all the time, in a holistic, organic, entirely Jewish environment. The very air is Jewish -- so you realize that being Jewish is something that affects every aspect of your life, that waterskiing can be Jewish, that time can be Jewish, etc. -- and, obviously, it (ideally) makes being Jewish an entirely positive thing. This gives you new perspective on what it's like to be Jewish in a mixed environment, and ideally gives you some kind of strength to maintain that positive Jewish identity in a non-Jewish world.
I think the same applies to single-sex education -- it's an excellent mechanism for building a strong identity as a woman, whatever that winds up meaning to you, and it helps you glimpse, briefly, an ideal world -- a vision that you can then use to inspire and sustain you in the often less-than-ideal world "outside"...