Many women today, feel rather irked about the idea of attending a single-sex college. The reason for this may be the general assumption in the minds of most students that, college life is incomplete without exciting co-ed experiences like dating. Most women, who do choose a single-sex institution over a co-ed institution, do so either because of family tradition or out of lack of better options.
Unfortunately, women’s colleges are more thrilling and dramatic than most people credit them for. Students who have graduated from such institutions will vouch for this. In India, most of these colleges were built by Christian Missionaries or social workers, in order to promote women’s education. Many of these institutions, like Sophia College for Women or SNDT University are old and are architectural works of art. Besides that, these institutions are also reputed for being examples of academic excellence.
It is, therefore, frustrating to observe the ridiculous and ludicrous notions that most people have about women’s colleges. It is possible that these opinions may have been formed either out of total ignorance or complete stupidity.
Listed below are the top five reactions I receive, when I reveal to people, that I am a student of a women’s institution
It’s a lesbian college, right?
Wrong. It is not. But we do accept women of all sexual orientations to join us. Fun fact #1: Straight women also attend such institutions, simply because some of us are driven by ambition and not by estrogen.
Fun fact#2: Students are admitted to such institutions based on their academic merit and not on their sexual orientation.
Don’t you miss the guys?
Not really. It is possible to survive for six hours a day without being surrounded by men. To be really honest, it is a pleasant change. We would rather surround ourselves with smart, intellectual women and proffessors who keep reminding us about how awesome we are, rather than with ‘guys’ who make us conscious about what we wear and what our hair looks like. Besides an environment surrounded by productive feminine energy is way more relaxing than one surrounded by competitive masculine energy
Everyone who graduates from a women’s college is a bra-burning feminist.
Um… Feminism is just an ideology that acknowledges women as people. Nothing bad to that, is there? Feminists are not women who are extreme misandrists, who use violence to prove feminine superiority. That is a stereotype. Men can be feminists too.
Women’s colleges are irrelevant today.
Most people today often dismiss the notion of special attention to women’s education as trivial, because they believe that, discrimination against women hardly exists in modern times. However, women’s colleges are necessary, especially in a country like India, which is still very conservative, as far as its women are concerned. Many of the students in these institutions belong to families that still have qualms about letting their girl children attend co-ed college, in order to protect them from the ‘corrupting influences of the world run by men’.
Special colleges for women? Isn’t that discrimination against men?
Oh Brother! This question, I never bother to answer.
In a nutshell, there is a lot that women’s colleges offer to their students. Most of all, many students find it refreshing to be in an environment where the faculty seems to genuinely care about your intellectual development. Some people would argue that, women’s colleges ‘shield women from public spaces’ therefore, making them incompetent in the real world. However, the lack of men in such institutions rather than shielding women, exposes them. Roles and opportunities that are traditionally assigned to men are usually executed by women. A woman is made to realize that she is no less than any man and that your genitals do not define your potential. And that, my friends, is why women’s colleges are awesome.
On that note, here’s a fun graphic:
The Adventures of an Imagination 