How an All-Girls Education Can Make All the Difference

6 years ago

Is An All Girls’ Education the Answer?

When we think about our daughters’ futures, we can all agree that we’ll do whatever we can to empower them. All girls’ boarding schools just might be the perfect place to do that.

The stats are stacking up and the verdict is in, women are staking their claim in spaces long dominated by men and demanding equality. How do we prepare our own daughters to position themselves at the head of the table? While it may seem counterintuitive to remove males from the equation, we believe that the power of a female-first education is the best first step on the road to professional success. North America is home to some of the world’s leading girls’ boarding schools, providing a learning environment that is equal parts challenging and supportive. Want proof? Here are nine compelling reasons that an all-girls education can set your daughter up for the job she wants with the pay and opportunity she deserves.

Girls’ school graduates are six times more likely to consider majoring in math, science and technology compared to girls who attend coed schools.¹
Women make up half of the total U.S. college-educated workforce, but only 29% of the science and engineering workforce.²
Almost 80% of all girls’ school students believe their classes challenge them to achieve their full academic potential compared to 72.3% of girls at coed independent and just 44.3% at coed public schools.¹
When asked about their ability to work and live in a diverse society, alumnae from all-girls schools are nearly 10% more likely than female graduates of coed schools to have the goal of helping promote racial understanding.³
90% of those attending girls’ schools report belonging to a community organization such as a charitable, civic or educational group or arts association.¹
3/4 of girls’ school grads consider college a stepping stone to graduate school.¹
93% of girls’ school grads say they were offered greater leadership opportunities than peers at coed schools.¹
80% have held leadership positions since graduating from high school.¹
64.2% of girls’ school graduates assess their writing as high, while just 58.8% of women graduates of coed schools consider themselves skilled writers.¹

Explore All-Girls’ Boarding Schools These numbers make it easy to see why choosing an all girls experience may be the right one, especially for your daughters’ future goals. What they don’t address are the emotional and interpersonal advantages of this kind of education, of which there are many. Girls are empowered to become confident young women without the distraction or judgment of adolescent boys. They are enabled to take positions of leadership, on everything from student government to flag football and they rarely, if ever, miss the boys. After all, they have their whole lives ahead of them. Let’s make sure they’re ready to make them the best lives possible. Are you considering whether boarding school is right for your daughter? Check out our FAQs, explore the uncovered truth about boarding school, or listen to the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools PEP Talks: Podcast on Educational Possibilities.

^{1 National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, including a 2000 and 2005 study conducted for NCGS by the Goodman Research Group of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Women Graduates of Single-Sex and Coeducational High Schools: Differences in their Characteristics and the Transition to College, Linda J. Sax, Ph.D., UCLA and Dr. Richard A. Holmgren, Allegheny College; Steeped in Learning: The Student Experience at All-Girls Schools}

^{2 National Girls Collaborative Project,}^{Finding STEM’s ‘Gone Girls’: Why Women Innovators Need a New Deal}

^{3 NCGS commissioned study, Fostering Academic and Social Engagement: An Investigation into the Effects of All-Girls Education in the Transition to University}