So, there’s this article out there with 6 (+2) reasons not to send your daughters to college. Yes, this is for real…

The Junia Project, a new blog advocating for gender equality in the church, home, and world-at-large, posted a response with 32 (+5) Reasons Women Should Attend College.  You can also find the link to the original post here.

As a woman who has been attending college/grad school for a quarter of my life I am obviously in favor of women attending college.  (I’m also a Christian feminist and egalitarian so my position shouldn’t be a surprise.)  The Junia Project has pointed out several great reasons why college is a place for women which I would also affirm.  Though I recognize that the college experience for many has become more about the degree than the education (see original article), that has not been my experience.  College has taught me to be a critical thinker and to ask the hard questions.  It was when I started asking questions that I really began to learn.  Being in a classroom with others has also taught me that not everyone thinks like me (big surprise!) and that’s a good thing!  It has exposed me to many intelligent, influential Christian women, past and present, of whom I was not aware before I started college. (Side note: this is a problem that needs to be addressed in the Church [at least in my experience] in which you hear A LOT about ‘the old dead guys’ and nothing of the many women who were also formative in church history.)  I found my place in the classroom.  I found a way to love God with all of who I am through learning and leading others in the classroom.  I’m incredibly thankful for all the women who have gone before me and who have made it possible for me to be apart of the academic world.

Please, send your daughters to college! Or trade school! Or an apprenticeship!  Encourage them to learn something they didn’t know before that will help them whether they choose to stay home or to work outside the home… or both!  And again, please send your daughters to college – I want them in my classroom someday!

Be sure to check out the MANY reasons why women should attend college over at The Junia Project, which is ultimately a ‘Kingdom-of-God issue’.  The authors sum it up well:

These are Kingdom-of-God issues

Women are called—just as much as men are called—to participate in the restoration of the whole earth according to the gifts God has given them. Many women’s gifts are particularly suited for college campuses and workplaces. Without the opportunity to attend college, these women would falter, unsure of where to use their gifts. They might even feel pressured to bury their talents in the ground.

There was a time, before women had the vote in this country, when most colleges were not open to women. A time when married women were not allowed to own property. A time when it was legal to not hire a woman based on her sex and legal to pay her less for the same job based on her sex. There was also a time when marital rape was not a prosecutable offense. Let us not allow Fix the Family to cause us to wax nostalgic about those bygone days.

I’d love to say more on this topic, but I’ve got to finish reading and prepare to discuss the Desert Mothers for class tonight!  Perhaps there will be more to come?

What do you think?  If women are meant to work in the home, should they attend college?  Does the argument for ‘traditional’ gender roles assume college is only for men?  Would we think differently about gender roles and working in/out of the home if we placed a higher value on singleness in the church?