I have always been very curious about why female
participation dominates study abroad program enrollments.
It’s actually what I would like to write about for my final paper for
this class.
Some of the reasons regarding why male participation is low
in study abroad that are addressed in this article are:
*Men are reluctant to leave campus social groups (from a
focus group study)
*Men are in academically rigorous programs on campus and can’t
fit it in
*Men are more likely to question the value of the experience
more than women
*Study Abroad is just not on their radar
More and more institutions are embracing practical bottom
line benefits of study abroad to males and trying to expand program offerings
in places where males could see themselves working long-term or in places where
they can work or hold internships overseas.
Just to give you something concrete, I coordinate faculty-led study abroad
programs here on campus, and for our winter 2012-13 programs, out of 201
participants on 10 different programs, we had 58 male participants and 143 female participants. That is 29% male participation.
Gentlemen in the class – it would be lovely to get your
perspective. If you studied abroad, why
did you? And if you never studied
abroad, then why not?
Here is the link to the article: http://chronicle.com/article/In-Study-Abroad-Men-Are-Hard/130853/
This is an interesting disparity that I am not surprised about. My study abroad trip definitely had more females than males. Also, my brother had no desire to go abroad during high school or college and my sister and I went both in high school and in college. I always found it odd that he did not want to go when he was given the opportunity. My assumption was that my brother did not think that going through museums, learning about the history of different countries, and trying different foods, was that appealing and interesting. Perhaps that fits in with the value of the experience or that it is not on their radar because it does not sound exciting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this interesting post, Suzi. I often see these type of disparities in our Fraternity & Sorority Affairs office--especially with our service learning trips. During winter break, we took a trip to South Side Chicago to help volunteer in an elementary school with predominately low-income students. There were 30 women and 2 men who attended the trip. This Spring Break we will be traveling to New Orleans to help rebuild from Hurricane Katrina. Once again we only have 14 women, and 2 men. These types of ratios are also seen in leadership opportunities that we offer and leadership positions. It makes me curious about the level of engagement of college men. Our sorority women often run LAPS around our men in terms of GPAs, service, philanthropy, and leadership. More of our women are also studying abroad.
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