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Oxford University and Women
Women were not admitted to membership of the University until 1920, although they had been allowed to sit some University examinations and attend lectures for over forty years by that date. It was thanks to individual initiatives, and the pioneering work of the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women (AEW) that women’s colleges came to be established in Oxford.
Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville opened in 1879, followed by St Hugh’s in 1886 and St Hilda’s in 1893. St Anne’s, which in 1952 was the last of the women’s colleges to be incorporated by Royal Charter, originated as the Society of Oxford Home Students, catering for women students who lived with private families in Oxford while attending courses organised by the AEW. The five women’s societies were granted full collegiate status in 1959.
Five all-male colleges - Brasenose, Jesus, Wadham, Hertford and St Catherine’s - first admitted women in 1974.
The first woman to be appointed to a full professorship were Agnes Headlam-Morley and Ida Mann. Both women were Fellows of St Hugh’s College.
Oxford currently has nine female Heads of House: the Rector of Exeter; the Wardens of Keble, Merton and St Antony’s; the Principals of Lady Margaret Hall, Mansfield, St Hilda’s, and Somerville; and the President of Wolfson. In 1993 Professor Marilyn Butler, former Rector of Exeter, became the first female head of a former all-male college at either Oxford or Cambridge.
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