In encounters with undergraduates at Yale, where I teach, it occasionally comes up in conversation that until 1969, when 284 women were admitted to the class of 1973, Yale College was for men only. The response I get, from young women and men alike, is one of incredulity. We had no idea, they tell me.
And indeed, why would they?
Linda Greenhouse, “How Smart Women Got the Chance”, The New York Review of Books, April 6, 2017
Why? Hmm, let’s see.
Because they are culturally literate enough to know that Harvard and Yale and many other American colleges and universities were single-sex schools until the social revolution of the Sixties?
Because they are interested in the history of the women’s movement in the US?
Because they learned from reading novels and biographies, and perhaps from watching Hollywood costume dramas, that Harvard and Yale once were all male?
Because they were curious enough about the university they were going to attend to read a thumbnail sketch (at least) of its history.
And indeed, why would they?
Linda Greenhouse, “How Smart Women Got the Chance”, The New York Review of Books, April 6, 2017
Why? Hmm, let’s see.
Because they are culturally literate enough to know that Harvard and Yale and many other American colleges and universities were single-sex schools until the social revolution of the Sixties?
Because they are interested in the history of the women’s movement in the US?
Because they learned from reading novels and biographies, and perhaps from watching Hollywood costume dramas, that Harvard and Yale once were all male?
Because they were curious enough about the university they were going to attend to read a thumbnail sketch (at least) of its history.