Top Women's Universities in the World

Daria Tatarkova

In March in the USAOne of the oldest women's colleges, Sweet-Briar, closed, which naturally drew attention to the question - is there a place in the West for higher education, divided by gender? At the same time, in Asia and the Arab world, women's universities play a huge role in the equality movement, helping women, sometimes deprived of the privilege of studying the same subjects as men. We talk about the existing universities for women and explain how they are remarkable.

Newnham College

Newnham college

At one time, Newnham was one of the first Cambridge colleges to begin accepting women. Today it is the oldest college in England, where only girls study. Its founder is the economist Henry Sidgwick, but a great contribution to the history of Newnhem was made by the English feminist and suffragist Millicent Fossett. Sidzhvik was one of those who initiated the women's lectures in Cambridge; At the same time, there was an association that promoted education for women. The demand for lectures was so high that in 1871 it was decided to open a permanent place to train women, who could not come all the time exclusively for individual lessons.

The college management did everything possible to adapt to the rhythm and characteristics of the life of women of the XIX century - right up to the construction of a special incredibly long corridor between the buildings, so that students would not have to go out under the rain. Newnham, along with other colleges, gave nineteenth-century women the opportunity to study and receive degrees. Because of this, their followers during the world wars achieved leading positions in the management of Cambridge and the status of a full-fledged college for Newnham. With the widespread unification of colleges in England, blended education became the standard in the 1970s and 1980s, and the need for the special status of Newnhem is still being discussed. Nevertheless, the college, which presented such graduates to the world as Emma Thompson, Jane Goodall, Iris Murdoch, Sylvia Plath and many others, still holds its ground.

Princess University

Nora bint Abdulrahman

Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University

Nora Bint Abdulrahman University is considered the largest institution of higher education for women in the world. It all started with the fact that in 1970 the first college appeared in the country where women could get higher education. A couple of decades later, many women's educational institutions opened, which were eventually merged into universities. So, 11 years ago, the first Women's University of Riyadh appeared, renamed with the time in honor of the sister of the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Nora bint Abdulrahman.

For Saudi Arabia, living under Sharia law, the opportunity to learn is a huge breakthrough for women, which cannot be underestimated. For example, this year local residents were promised to give the right to engage in politics, not least because more and more students are finding the strength to realize that they can be successful in the same areas as men. Education also makes it possible to gradually increase the percentage of working women, even if they are still only 17% of all the country's workers. Today, more than half of all students in Saudi Arabia are women.

Nora Bint Abdulrahman University is famous for its size: 60,000 students can study here, and the local library has 2 million books in Arabic and English. The entry competition is tougher than at Harvard. With all the impressive statistics, the university has been criticized for its lack of progressiveness in the struggle for equality in the Arab world. Local universities still focus on "purely female" professions related to care, education or social work, and after graduation, many graduates return to family instead of work - where they cannot even sit behind the wheel.

Ewha Women's University

Ewha womans university

Not just one of the leading universities in South Korea, but also one of the best women's universities in the world, the Ewha is second only to the previous one on this list. With all the archaism of the separate education approach, Ihwe managed to become incredibly modern - the atmosphere of the campus more resembles western colleges, and admission here is not inferior in terms of prestige to any other institution of higher education in the country. One of the four Asian "tigers" managed to turn the still prevailing tradition of patriarchy to their advantage. Ewha became the alma mater of many eminent Korean women, including dozens of well-known names in their homeland, from the first woman doctor and the first three ladies to the first woman prime minister Khan Monsuk or Hyundai chairman Hyun John Eun.

The history of the Ewha University begins with the eponymous school founded by the American missionary Mary Ef Scranton in 1886, who came to Korea as a representative of the Methodist church. The name of the university literally translates as "petals of pear flowers" and refers to the history of the first campus of the school, which these very petals and covered with. With the end of the Second World School-based college courses became an independent university. Writing "Womans" is not a mistake and not an accident. Such a plurality of the word "women" is intended to emphasize the individuality of female students - as opposed to uniting all into one "women". Despite the fact that in Korea there is not a single women's university worthy of attention, Ewha is proud to be first in all, including disciplines: for example, you can study gender studies here.

Barnard college

Barnard college

Barnard is one of the Seven Sisters colleges united under a common brand to become the female Ivy League option. Remember, in the Simpsons, it was the “sisters” who tried to persuade Lisa Simpson to study at one of their universities? The name "Seven Sisters" refers to the mythical pleiads - daughters of titan Atlas. With their creation, colleges are obliged to the pioneers of women's education in America, Marie Lion, Sarah Pearce and Katharine Beecher, who in the early nineteenth century advocated the creation of educational institutions for women. Lyon, among others, later founded the Mount Holyok seminary, which became the basis of the college of the same name.

Two of the seven "sisters" eventually went on to joint training, but most continue to work exclusively for women - among them the oldest female Mount Holyoke College, and Barnard himself. The latter is named after the fighter for the right to education for women and the president of Columbia University, Frederick Barnard - both institutions are still closely linked. Barnard keeps a unique collection of fanzines, which is constantly replenished to document the third wave of feminism in the world in general and in America in particular. On the basis of the college in 1971, the "Barnard Center for Research on Women" was also opened, promoting the ideas of feminism and equality, and in 2014 the college first admitted to its ranks a transgender woman.

Japanese Women's University

Japan Women's University

The fact that separate education universities exist, many find out rather with surprise - as was the case with the recent news that a man sued one of Japanese women's universities for refusing admission. In the West, only women's colleges today are either closing down or are trying to adapt, emphasizing the most comfortable environment for women and making equality research a priority. For Asia, the situation is the opposite: higher education institutions for women are more likely to be the norm, and, as is evident from Ihwe in Korea, women's colleges and universities thrive even under the condition of many “rivals” where joint education is allowed.

The Japanese Women's University is the oldest in the country, he was the first to give women the opportunity to get further education after school. Its founder, Jinzo Naruse, was repelled by the fact that women not only have the right to education, but, contrary to popular opinion, this will not cause any harm to society. Naruse believed that it was women who should be entrusted with a peacekeeping mission. The academician, who had previously laid the foundation for the Niigata women's school, was engaged in a university until his death. Today it is one of the best universities in Japan and the largest among women's universities in the country.

Modi University of Science and Technology

Mody University of Science & Technology

India is one of the fastest growing countries, it is not surprising that the demand for women's education is growing here every year. Modi University boasts of its luxurious new campus, fountains and gardens and claims to be not just an educational institution, but a real place of power. The university was founded in 1998 by the visionary and owner of several innovative companies, Sri Pop Modi, who literally turned the Rajasthan desert into a safe and productive place for women who want to gain knowledge.

Today, Modi leads the women's universities in India and is on the list of the 25 best universities in the country. Spirituality, which the university is called to educate, looks like an adequate symbiosis of tradition and modernity: the menu is exclusively vegetarian, the campus is eco-friendly, and one of the activities is meditation, for which a separate building has been built. The university considers as its symbol the Hindu goddess of knowledge Saraswati, designed to raise future female leaders.

Asian University for Women

Asian University for Women

The youngest of these, this university was founded in 2008 by Pakistani diplomat Ahmad Kamal and became the first women's institution of higher education in South Asia. Due to the fact that the university chose an international policy from the very beginning, it instantly became a place where women from nearby countries aspire to, where there is no place to get a decent education. The university is located in the port of Chittagong, the second largest city in Bangladesh, and its campus was designed by famous architect Moshe Safdi.

Now students come from all over the region, from Afghanistan to Nepal. Being an ambitious project, the Asian University for Women functions exclusively on donations from various organizations, and the absolute majority of students are scholarship holders. For local students, this is a real social elevator, allowing girls from low-income families to gain knowledge in various fields - not necessarily traditionally female. The faculty of the university includes professors from different countries to expand the knowledge of female students about the world.

Photo: via Wikipedia and Shutterstock