Contradictions in Women's Education: Traditionalism, Careerism, and Community at a Single-Sex College (review)

In Contradictions in Women's Education, Barbara Bank examines women's higher education as exemplified in one women's college. Harriet Yelon, formerly one of Bank's graduate students and a faculty member at the institution being studied, helped with the research. Bank explains her role: "Although the research on which this book is based would not and could not have been done without Harriet's instigation and efforts, she is not responsible for the book" (p. ix).

Using a mixed-methods approach and acknowledging her feminist perspective, Bank studied the effects of an institution identified as Central Women's College (CWC) on 185 full-time students from the time they entered CWC in fall 1991 until they left it or graduated in spring 1995. CWC is a small, rural, Midwestern, non-elite institution, classified as Baccalaureate II at the time of the study.

To study CWC's effects, Bank frames her study in terms of "three sets of contradictions surrounding women's higher education" (p. 2): gender traditionalism, careerism, and community. First she asks whether the education received at CWC reinforces traditional perspectives on women or provides an emancipatory perspective. Bank then juxtaposes careerism with academic orientation and also with collegiate culture, asking: (a) For what kind of careers are women being educated? (b) How appropriate is careerism or vocationalism as the major reason for a college education? and (c) Are students insufficiently oriented toward careers and more oriented to partying/socializing and finding a husband? Finally, Bank asks whether community at CWC comes at the expense of individualism and autonomy, what the sources of community within the college are, and what other communities affect students' integration within the college community.

Bank found that the college (as represented by its administrators, faculty, and staff) was neither a bastion of gender traditionalism nor a frontrunner in gender emancipation. Also, the majority of the students were apparently "ambivalent" about either approach and sought a "middle ground" (p. 30).

There was a "strong careerism" in the student culture and a "tilt toward careerism in the official college culture" (p. 75). The majority of liberal arts graduates were interested in traditionally female occupations as compared to only 20% of the students with vocational majors. However, the majority of vocational majors were not seeking nontraditional jobs for women but rather jobs that were not dominated by either sex. Another finding was that the college's collegiate elements were not strong enough to affect negatively most students' academic performance.

Finally, a number of the institutional characteristics that created community for some students "repelled others and motivated them to leave" (p. 133). Sororities and athletics, at least for in-state students, were communities that helped bind students to the college. Extracurricular activities allowed for "individual achievement and for enhancing credentials useful in future careers" (p. 131). Friendships were important but did not retain students unless they were stronger friendships than those developed before coming to CWC. Sororities neither advanced nor harmed students collectively: Individual students claimed both positive and negative effects of belonging or not belonging. Perhaps there was a muted effect of sororities at CWC because, like the institution, they were non-elite: Almost anyone who wanted to be in a sorority could be and there was not really a campus press to join.

Bank's study makes several contributions to the literature on college effects. One is its use of mixed methods, including several surveys of students and one of faculty, three sets of student interviews, and CWC records and documents. Another contribution is the focus on sororities since the impact of Greek societies on students is an understudied area (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1992). The strongest contribution is her focus on a non-elite institution simply because these institutions are so understudied.

While the focus on students in a non...