The first boarding school for women was established in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1742 by members of the Moravian denomination. This school became known as the Bethlehem Female Seminary and was granted a charter in 1863 to award baccalaureate degrees. In 1837, Oberlin College in Ohio was the first college to allow women to attend classes equally with men. The first state college to accept women was the University of Iowa in 1855, which was quickly followed by several other colleges in western states.
The Land-Grant College Act of 1862 provided federal land to the states for the establishment of colleges and universities around the country. The establishment and growth of state colleges opened many educational doors for women because there was insufficient male enrollment to fill all the available class openings. With the expanded enrollment of women, academic programs such as home economics were added, eventually leading to women being enrolled in scientific and liberal arts programs.
After the Civil War, opportunities for women grew significantly across the country as colleges and universities began opening their doors to women on an equal footing with men. The University of Wisconsin went coeducational in 1865, followed by the University of Kansas in 1869. Boston University made every class available to women except theological programs in 1870. The University of Chicago opened as a coeducational institution in 1892 and, by the early 20th century, over 50 percent of the students were women.
President Ford signed a bill in 1975 allowing women to enter all of the United States military academies on an equal basis with men. The first women cadets entered the academies in 1976 amid considerable controversy. In the years 2007 through 2009, the percentage of women at West Point was 16 percent and at the Air Force and Naval Academies, 21 percent. This is a 4 to 6 percent increase since the years 1992 through 1994.
Several major universities did not allow coeducational attendance by women until the mid- to late 20th century. Harvard University allowed women into the classroom on an equal basis with men in 1943. The first woman entered Yale university as an undergraduate in 1969 and the University of Virginia did not become fully coeducational until 1970. There are still 60 women's colleges in the United States located in 24 different states. Massachusetts has the most with eight, while Pennsylvania is second with seven colleges for women only.