Why all colleges should think of themselves as women’s colleges

From The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/why-all-colleges-should-think-of-themselves-as-womens-colleges/2012/03/09/gIQALFBf1R_story.html

By H. Kim Bottomly

March 9, 2012

If we have any hope of making our volatile planet more peaceful and sustainable, we are going to have to get more women into public leadership roles. And right now we have a long way to go, when women hold a mere 17.5 percent of the world’s elected offices, and when, with the election of the current 112th U.S. Congress, we saw the first decline in female representation in 30 years.Given today’s immense global challenges, we can no longer afford to draw leaders from only half the talent pool.

 

To this end, the U.S. State Department has joined with five women’s colleges—Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith and Wellesley—to start the Women in Public Service Project. The idea is to educate a new generation of global women leaders, committed to changing the way our most far-reaching challenges are framed and addressed.

This is the State Department's first effort to tap the power of women’s liberal arts colleges. But it makes me think, isn’t it time for all our higher-education institutions see themselves, to some extent, as also being colleges for women?

Whether 50 percent of your students are women or 100 percent are, every college and university should have as a priority an investment in the leadership potential of women everywhere.

Continue reading at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/why-all-colleges-should-think-of-themselves-as-womens-colleges/2012/03/09/gIQALFBf1R_story.html