Friendships among women are supportive and helpful, of course, but are they also vehicles for learning? The author shows how conversation between women offers them a safe haven for trying out ideas and for challenging themselves and each other—a haven, she asserts, that institutions need to be aware of and nurture.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlexanderL. T., GurR., GurR., and PattersonL., “Peer-Assisted Learning.”Improving Human Performance Quarterly, 1974, 3(4), 175–186.
2.
AltmanI., and TaylorD. A.Social Penetration: The Development of Interpersonal Relationships.Austin, Tex.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973.
3.
AriesE. J., and JohnsonF. L.“The Talk of Women Friends.”Women's Studies International Forum, 1983, 6(4), 353–361.
4.
AstinA. W.What Matters in College: Four Critical Years Revisited.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992.
5.
BanksT. L.“Gender Bias in the Classroom.”Journal of Legal Education, 1988, 38(1-2), 137–146.
6.
CaldwellM. A., and PeplauL. A.“Sex Differences in Same-Sex Friendship.”Sex Roles, 1982, 8, 721–732.
7.
CrawfordM., and MacLeodM.“Gender in the College Classroom: An Assessment of the ‘Chilly Climate’ for Women.”Sex Roles, 1990, 23, 101–122.
8.
FassingerP. A.“Understanding Classroom Interaction: Students’ and Professors’ Contributions to Students’ Silence.”Journal of Higher Education, 1995, 66(1), 82–96.
9.
GarrisonJ.Dewey and Eros: Wisdom and Desire in the Art of Teaching.New York: Teachers College Press, 1997.
10.
GuinierL., FineM., and BalinJ.“Becoming Gentlemen: Women's Experiences at One Ivy League Law School.”University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 1994, 143(1), 1–110.
11.
HallR. M., and SandlerB.“The Classroom Climate: A Chilly One for Women.”Project on the status of education of women.Association of American Colleges, Washington, D. C., 1983.
12.
KramaraeC., and TreichlerP. A.“Power Relationships in the Classroom.” In GabrielS. L., and SmithsonI. (eds.), Gender in the Classroom: Power and Pedagogy.Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990.
13.
LevingerG., “Toward an Analysis of Close Relationships.”Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1980, 16, 510–544.
14.
NoddingsN.Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education.Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.