Education Commons^™

Gender And Education: A Qualitative Study Of Women's Experiences At Selective Women's Colleges, Staci H. Zake

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This study examined women’s experiences in a single-sex academic environment to help us better understand broader issues in higher education related to the history of educating women and the role of women’s colleges within the U.S system. This dissertation research moved beyond existing research about elite single-sex schooling to better understand the experiences for graduates of second tier women’s colleges in relation to a women-centered environment. Findings support that female students attending second-tier women’s colleges experience the single-sex environment very similarly to peers attending top tier women’s colleges and can end up in similar places professionally as their peers at …