Why is Greek life more popular with women than men?

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

Ok, then change "nature" to "nurture" in my statement.

Cool.

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by oldu

On almost every site for colleges/universities or Greek life which includes statistics, the percentage of women who join sororities is substantially higher than the percentage of men who join fraternities. In some cases it is a large difference. To what do you attribute this? I have some opinions but would love to hear from some of you who are much closer to the current situation.

Could this be because sororities take in a higher amount of new girls than do guys?

It always seems like the numbers of PNMs that the sororities take are huge.........and the number of pledges the fraternities take in can be pretty small. You know, the "quota" aspect of it?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by macallan25

Could this be because sororities take in a higher amount of new girls than do guys?

It always seems like the numbers of PNMs that the sororities take are huge.........and the number of pledges the fraternities take in can be pretty small. You know, the "quota" aspect of it?

Well, quota is only as big as the number of people rushing. I mean, if you have 5 sororities and only 15 girls go thru rush, quota is 3. It varies from year to year. You have to have the girls come out to rush to begin with.

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by Tom Earp

It may also include that males are into sports or ROTC. They feel more independent than Females.

Joining a sports team or ROTC makes you part of a GROUP, last time I checked.

[PGD-GRAD]

On some campuses, number are determined simply by the way rush is done. Most fraternties do not have a formal IFC-run rush, so they may invite and pledge as they wish number-wise, even if it is within a certain time period. Sororities, on the other hand, agree to split a certain percentage of those women who choose to go through rush, no matter how large (or small) that number. At some campuses, the average sorority pledge class might be 50 or 60 or even 79 or 80; the average fraternity class might be 25 or 30. The question nobody asks is this: given the opportunity to rush and pledge exactly who they wish number-wise, how many sororities would end up with 150-200 total members? Nobody will ever know, nor will they know how many guys would sign up for a mass rush where each fraternity ended up with a certain percentage of those remaining in rush, no matter how large that final number might be.

It is true, though, that more women are entering college than men number-wise, so that is certainly part of the equation. It's easy to say that men are less social or less gregarious, but the current system does not allow for that argument to be played out. I think fraternities are happy being smaller and--therefore--closer and able to be more selective. But there are fraternites who take huge classes, too.

[MandyPepperidge]

Fraternities haze. Not everyone wants to do that.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by MandyPepperidge

Fraternities haze. Not everyone wants to do that.

Not all fraternities haze, and some sororities haze worse than fraternities do.

[MandyPepperidge]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Not all fraternities haze, and some sororities haze worse than fraternities do.

I hate to make generalizations, but, and this spans a number of the schools, the majority of my male friends were "hazed." I use quotations because there a good deal of range in terms of what they did.

Only one of my girlfriends was hazed.

[Dionysus]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Also consider that there are more women than men in college, in general. This gender gap is even greater for African Americans as compared to other racial and ethnic groups.

I think this is the best answer.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by MandyPepperidge

I hate to make generalizations, but, and this spans a number of the schools, the majority of my male friends were "hazed." I use quotations because there a good deal of range in terms of what they did.

Only one of my girlfriends was hazed.

Then don't make them.

Greek Life extends beyond your circle of friends, and hazing incidents have occurred with members of both fraternities and sororities.

[PhiGam]

Fraternities are much more likely to haze, at least here. I couldn't tell you why less men join GLOs than women honestly.

[gtdxeric]

I think that some men have more of a tendency than women do to join an organization for a specific reason or purpose, such as a club sport team or ROTC, rather than a general-purpose organization such as a sorority or fraternity.

I've also heard that there's been a marked decline in men's post-college fraternal and community organizations, ("Bowling Alone", anyone?) so this might be a broader societal issue, rather than a social fraternity-specific one.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by gtdxeric

I've also heard that there's been a marked decline in men's post-college fraternal and community organizations, ("Bowling Alone", anyone?) so this might be a broader societal issue, rather than a social fraternity-specific one.

I believe that has to do with 1) women demanding men be at home more/help w/ child rearing 2) super long commutes that by the time you get home, you can barely stay awake for dinner, let alone go to a Kiwanis/Jaycees/etc meeting.

Then again, you make time for what's important to you.

[CORINTHIAN1906]

Greek life is more popular with women cuz' y'all know y'all iz MESSY!! And most of the time it's the grad chapter sorors keeping up mess. I'm not going to call out any GLOs but some of these sorors kick mess all the way up to their prospective national representative. Brothers can be messy too but most of the time they try to squash it if it gets too out of hand. On the other hand, with sisters, I know of sorors on the same line that haven't spoken to each other in over 30 years over petty mess. Many sorors take running for particular positions in their chapters too seriously. And they will spend a half million dollars and sleepless nights putting those scrap books together.

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by CORINTHIAN1906

Greek life is more popular with women cuz' y'all know y'all iz MESSY!!

Can someone please translate this for me?