Accidental Equity: The Status of Women in the Community College

Community colleges have a high percentage of women students and a higher percentage of women faculty and administrators than do four-year colleges. Yet the extent to which the community college offers an equitable work and study site for women is not clear. The authors seek to determine this by applying to existing literature an adaptation of Hurtado, Milem, Clayton-Pederson, and Allen's framework for examining an institution's climate for diversity. After applying this framework, the authors conclude that women have been an important part of the community college student and employee base since its inception as the junior college, that numerically women are well represented, and that the climate, while not perfect, is relatively good for women. However, they argue that this situation may be due more to accident than to intentional action or behavior on the part of institutional leaders.