Higher education in the US was originally segregated by gender, with separate colleges for men and for women. The cultural shift in the 1960’s made single-sex colleges less popular. Most US educational institutions are now co-educational.
Today there are only three men’s colleges left in the US that are not religiously affiliated. Most all-women’s colleges also made the change to co-education, but there are still several prominent women’s schools, notably Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Wellsley, that have survived the change. The continuation of all-women’s colleges is, at least in part, attributable to Matina Horner’s groundbreaking research that pioneered the concept of women’s “fear of success.” She became the youngest president in Radcliffe College history, in 1972. Radcliffe, however, did not survive the change and later merged into Harvard College, the undergraduate school of Harvard University.
There is a body of research, including Horner’s, to suggest that women who attend single-sex colleges have a higher rate of success in life, because they learn to assert their knowledge and opinions without worrying whether they are going to please, displease, or or in general worry about the opinions of men.
Some women’s schools, such as Mount Holyoke and Smith, belong to a consortium of schools of which others are co-educational. A student at one of these colleges might take classes, or attend events, at another school in the group, so going to an all-women’s college does not mean that one will not encounter men.
Going to an all-women’s school has benefits and drawbacks. If a young woman is concerned about the male dating pool, a single-sex college may not be for her. If a woman prefers the company of other women, or wants to focus single-mindedly on her studies, a women’s college might be the ideal option.