We, as Greek women, need to look at this issue. We need to see what women are looking for and what we are offering. I think the basic concepts of sororities/female fraternities, love, friendship, sisterhood, are still valid and the main things that attract women, but what has changed in women's lives that has made sororites less attractive? One thing that is different is the fact that many women need to work in order to pay for school. This makes money an issue, as well as the time commitment. Second, are we still marketing sororities as a way to meet men, have fun, etc? This is no longer what women are looking for (solely). Back in the 50's, fraternities and sororites were the main way of meeting your wife or husband, that's still a cool way, but the antiquated ideas may still linger in the head of some possible recruits. We need to push career networking opportunities, how we are affecting social change, and the fact that parties are a fact of life, but we can think for ourselves and do not just answer to our EO. Independence is what women seek when going to school, they need to feel they are still autonomous when joining a sorority. Are we offering mentally healthy chapters? By this, I mean, maybe we need to incorporate more emotional support into chapter operations. When there is internal chapter strife, it is visible to the outside, believe it or not. If we have women who are causing chapter discord, how is it handled other than calling her names and excluding her? If that woman decides to leave the chapter and she is NOT HAPPY with the way things were handled, that causes the worst word of mouth bashing we could possibly encounter! What are EO's offering in way of chapter emotional support?
All of these things are things I have seen when dealing with chapters...These are also reasons I have heard as to why women decline joining, accepting a bid, or going thru recruitment...
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