ABSTRACT
Two-year women’s colleges have received very little attention from scholars in higher education. They are rarely the topic of empirical analysis and have been virtually left out of historical analyses of women’s education and historical accounts of the two-year college sector. The absence of discussion about the role of these colleges within the landscape of American higher education suggests that these are not institutions deemed worthy of attention. Public perception is that two-year women’s colleges are “finishing schools” for “girls” rather than serious academic institutions for women. As a group of institutions, two-year women’s colleges are rapidly declining in enrollment and in number. One could easily predict the demise of these colleges by the beginning of the new millennium. As the number of these institutions continues to shrink, the time has come to examine their legacy and to determine the extent to which they have important lessons to offer other types of colleges and universities. This chapter suggests that two-year women’s colleges deserve to be noticed for their contribution to women’s education.
