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The preamble for a statute providing admission of women to degrees at Oxford University was approved in February 1920:
Three additional steps in addition to degrees were proposed according to an article published by the Guardian – women would be: members of convocation and parliamentary electorals; public examiners; and members of all boards, delegations and committees.
Although women had been studying at the university since the late 1800s, they were not permitted to graduate up to this point. When Trinity College began to confer degrees upon women in 1904, it meant that, due to a pre-existing arrangement between Dublin, Oxford and Cambridge, whereby graduates could obtain equivalent degrees upon payment of a suitable fee, women – who had previously been able to study at Oxford or Cambridge but not graduate – were able to travel to Dublin to receive their degrees.
The ‘steamboat ladies’ became popular – a nickname given to the number of women who would travel between 1904 and 1907 to Trinity College Dublin to claim their qualifications. The fees amounted to £10. 3s.
On October 8 1920, the Manchester Guardian reported the previous day’s ceremony at Oxford University: “The ceremony, which was performed by the Vice Chancellor, Dr. Farnell, Rector of Exeter College, took place in the ancient Divinity School. About 110 women undergraduates attended. They wore academic dress, consisting of soft square black caps of the shape worn by the members of the University in the sixteenth century, with gowns, like those worn by the men, over dark coats and skirts.”
Oxford opens its doors to women, October 1920
It is unclear who the first woman to graduate from the university was, given the lengthy process to actually admit them. However, the first to gain honours in an examination which was intended to be the equivalent to that of a man for a degree was Annie Mary Anne Henley Rogers, who was retrospectively awarded a degree in 1920 for exams that she had passed forty-three years earlier in 1877.
Despite this, a quota limiting the number of female students to a quarter of men was not removed until 1957, and from the 1970s all-male colleges also moved towards admitting women:
The decision by Oxford University to admit women led to a similar discussion at Cambridge in 1920. The members of the Senate House, however, voted against the right and it was not until 1947 that the university introduced new legislation, allowing women to graduate the following year.
Women at Cambridge: Full membership defeated, 1920
Women at Cambridge: Equal status with men in the University, 1947
Further reading
Britannica: University of Oxford
Women at the University of Oxford: Revolutionaries in a male-dominated world
Women of Oxford University who altered the course of history
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