Source: Quartz
Harvard recently announced an official ban on gender-segregated university clubs, including sororities and fraternities. The decision was made with the intention of improving inclusiveness and integration of women in university clubs that provide access to resources and networks for members.
Lise Eliot, neuroscientist and the author of Pink Brain Blue Brain, explains that the new policy could help bring women and men closer to understand, empathize and help each other thrive.
Society shapes how men and women perceive themselves and defines gender roles that students are encouraged to subscribe to through gender-segregated clubs.
Opponents of the new policy argue that female-only spaces will be jeopardized.
While there is no doubt that women-only groups often offer resources and support to females that perhaps they cannot get elsewhere, there might a benefit in allowing men to integrate into those spaces as well, as women too integrate into male-dominated spaces.
According to research, Eliot explains that men and women do not differ in personality, cognitive ability, or leadership skills, and thus many of the differences between men and women are perceived or emphasized and perpetuated through gender-segregated clubs.
The new policy might be helpful in bridging gaps of understanding between men and women and will also help to “reflect the realities of the world we live in.”
Read full story at: Quartz