From 1872 to 2022: 150 years of YSJ Alumnae (Part Two)
Although not discussed explicitly, this blog does contain themes that may be difficult to read. These include mentions of: overt sexism, abortion, abuse, homophobia, sexual assault, domestic abuse, murder, Jack the Ripper, non-consensual drugging (spiking), hate crimes and colonialism. This blog also briefly references antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia and racism.
In part two of our 150 years of Women at YSJ, we look at much more recent history: 1972 and 2022. From 1872 to 1972, the world had undergone seismic changes. Wars had been waged, Neil Armstrong had walked on the moon and our alumnae has a host of rights that The Class of 1872 couldn’t have dreamed about.
But from 1872 to 2022, has society actually eradicated the problems or merely watched them adapt into a 21st Century problem?
1972: A Modern World
For some of our alumni, 1972 was way after they’d finished studying with us. But for others, the 70s were the best years of their lives. For our younger alumni, 1972 is almost as unimaginably long ago as 1872. In reality, whilst 1872 and 1922 are no longer in our living memory, 1972 is. We know that many of our fantastic alumni community remember their time at York St John and Ripon fondly from this period.
For York St John, 1972 was the ten year anniversary of having first admitted women. It was also only seven years since Ripon had begun admitting men! Whilst York St John is now firmly a coeducational university, in the 70s, it was still a relatively new idea considering the much longer history of both colleges being single sex institutions. This meant that whilst women were firmly welcomed at York St John, they were still in the minority.
In 1972, the first rumbles would have started about teacher training places. This resulted in the 1974 merger of Ripon and York to become the College of Ripon and York St John. This merger returned Ripon to its historical origins, but instead of a sister school, a true equal.
It was also in 1972 that the school-leaving age in England and Wales was increased to 16. For students at either college, this resulted in bigger schools as they struggled to suddenly accommodate more students.
College life
In 1972, York and Ripon were still independent, thriving, well-established colleges. In 1971, York St John had 950 students and was one of the largest colleges in England with an enviable reputation. Ripon College was much smaller, with 580 students but fantastic exam results. In fact, Ripon’s exam results were among the best of those validated by The University of Leeds!
But not everything was as it seemed. Whilst many jumped at the chance of gaining a BEd degree by completing a fourth year at York St John, in 1971 only 10 students decided to do the same at Ripon, and even less in 1972.
“It seems that women students are less interested than their men colleagues in obtaining a degree qualification.”
Miss Gage, Principal of Ripon College
Although Miss Gage was clearly the expert on her students, her comments about the interest of the majority of her students in achieving a degree prompt questions today. Her students were clearly capable of attaining a degree if their exam results were so high, so why wouldn’t they?
For some it might have been the cost of a fourth year of studying with little to no income. For others, it might have been a true lack of interest in completing another year of study when they were already qualified. But, regardless of their reasons, the fact that nearly 100 men at York St John felt able to complete a fourth year, but the women at Ripon didn’t, does raise questions.
In 1972, our alumnae faced a world very different to 1922 and 1872. They had the opportunity to study a range of different subjects as part of their time with us. Their lives was far less regimented and a long teaching career was very much possible.
The fight for rights continued
Universal suffrage had been attained, but the fight for equality was still ongoing throughout the 20th Century.
In 1972, women had only been able to access abortion for five years in the UK. The first women’s refuge had only been open a year, and the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act was still three years away. In practice, this meant that whilst women could work in most of the same roles as men, they still faced discrimination because of their gender. Many would also face discrimination because of their race, marital status, sexuality and class too.
Whilst 1972 saw the first official gay pride march in London, for Ripon College and York St John’s LGBTQ+ students, there would still be a long (and ongoing) road to acceptance. In 1972, it would still be seven years until Britain had Margaret Thatcher as its first woman Prime Minister. It would take even longer for a black woman to become an MP; it was only in 1987 that Diane Abbot became the first black woman MP.
When it came to true representation in parliament, there was still a way to go.
2022: Break the Bias
From 1872 to 2022, a lot has changed. The history of women in education can almost be tracked through our campuses. From separate institutions to a merged and co-educational university, it’s clear that women’s inclusion in higher education has come a long way.
In 2022, York St John operates from two campuses and a sports campus. Today, our students study an array of different subjects and, on the surface, our alumnae can expect to earn the same as our alumni. Our alumnae can also continue to work if they get married and can now legally marry their LGBTQ+ partners. Today, women studying at York St John have a host of rights that were unimaginable to their predecessors in 1872.
The same old story
But scratch beneath the surface, and the inequalities faced in 1872 haven’t been eradicated, only mitigated.
| In 2022 women can: | The reality: |
|---|---|
| Continue working after having children. | Women often have to juggle work with childcare responsibilities. This results in career gaps, loss of earnings, reduced career progression and smaller pensions. Single mothers also still face stigma often not faced by single fathers. |
| Work in any role after getting married. | Women often perform the majority of the household and emotional labour, creating an enhanced workload that many men don’t face. |
| Vote. | In 2028, women will celebrate the centenary of true universal suffrage, but since 1918 there have only been 558 women MPs; currently, only 224 out of 650 MPs are women. Essentially, since 1918, there haven’t been enough women MPs to fill the House of Commons even once. |
| Expect equal pay and career prospects. | Statistics show that at age 30, an average male graduate will earn 25% more than the average female graduate despite women being more likely to achieve a first class or 2:1 degree. |
| Be themselves without reputational worries. | Reputation is still everything for women in the public eye. Theresa May was lambasted for her outfit choices and her dancing on stage at the Conservative conference. Dianne Abbot was the subject of speculation and media frenzy for daring to enjoy a small alcoholic beverage on the tube. But Boris Johnson’s appearance receives far less scrutiny, despite often looking slightly dishevelled. Jacob Rees-Mogg proudly states he never bothered to change one of his children’s nappies and faces limited criticism. Women also still face a ‘double standard’ where their personal behaviour and relationships are scrutinised more severely than a man’s. |
From chaperones to ‘let me know when you’re home’
In 1872, Ripon’s students had to be chaperoned on their visits outside of campus. Later, when students were allowed to visit unchaperoned in pairs (A Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is not as distant as we’d like to think), the college received complaints from locals. In 2022, no one would suggest our students should be chaperoned. But students can collect free personal alarms from our Students’ Union, just in case. What was the chaperone really for, if not to ensure their behaviour, and their safety? What did our alumnae gain from going out in pairs, except for safety in numbers? As women often say to each other in 2022 – let me know when you’re home safe.
As a university, we also run campaigns centred around sexual and domestic abuse. Any Ripon graduate of 1872 would be aware and wary of these problems, even if in 1872 they had fewer legal processes to help them. A look at modern day statistics on convictions for offences against women provide a depressing backdrop to ponder just how similar a response to a crime would be in 1872 as now.
In 2022 we look ahead to a future that seems very different to that of our 1872 graduates. But in 2021 women continued to face the same issues that plagued their predecessors. Between 1888 and 1891, the infamous Jack the Ripper murders occured, shocking a nation. In 2021, the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa shocked all of us. Whilst the reasons for the shock are slightly different, the fact remains: in 2022 as in the late 1800s, women aren’t safe.
Research shows that on average, a woman is killed by a man every 3 days in the UK. Statistically, since 1 January, 22 women have been killed by men in the UK. By the end of March 2022, that figure will have increased to 30 women. Like in 1872, many of their deaths will not make national headlines.
It’s still a man’s world – literally
Since 1872, design has come along way. But society is still literally designed for men:
- A 2011 study found that female drivers involved in car crashes had a 47% greater chance of serious injury. They also had a 71% higher chance of moderate injury because car crash dummies are most often based on a man’s body. How will a petite 5″2 woman fare in a crash when it’s airbags have only been tested on 6″0 ‘atypical man’ crash dummies?
- In 2018, women in the US army had to modify their own body armour to make it fit. This put their lives at risk because despite women being recruited since 2016, women’s body armour still wasn’t being produced. How could they be fully protected when the body armour was made for a body different to their own?
- PPE comes in ‘standard sizes’ which are often based on a white, ‘average’ man. This means that simply using a smaller size doesn’t work when the shape is wrong. How protected have our health professionals felt with incorrectly fitting PPE throughout this pandemic?
Moreover, for our current students, when they go out to enjoy a night out, they have to consider multiple risks. This includes being spiked either through their drinks, or more worryingly, by injection. This is then compounded by the ever-present threat of danger for existing in a world that still caters largely to men.
For example, how much more secure is a mobile phone in your hand when it’s actually the right size? Whilst day-to-day it doesn’t make a huge difference, the ability to securely hold your phone could make all the difference it an emergency.
#BreakTheBias
Whilst York St John and its treatment of women has dramatically changed and improved since 1872, our wider society still has a lot of work to do. In 2022 our alumnae still face the same challenges as those faced by their predecessors in 1872, just with a modern-day update.
Women can work in the same jobs as men, but 100 years later still face a gender pay-gap. We can progress in our careers, but often not into the boardrooms which are still dominated by men. We can go out when we want and with who we want, but we still face the same danger of judgement and violence. Antisemitic, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist and transphobic hate crimes are still prevalent, and in some cases, are on the rise. Misogyny might not be a hate crime, but it still impacts every day actions.
Today as people the world over vow to #BreakTheBias, we do too. At York St John, we’re proud to champion diversity, widen participation in higher education and inspire the next generation of students.
So much has changed, but just like in 1872, there’s still a long road ahead.
A note on our alumnae
Throughout this blog and the previous one, we have spoken about the ‘average’ alumnae from Ripon and York St John. But it’d be wrong to not acknowledge the lack of diversity discussed.
Our LGBTQ+ alumnae
There’s a rumour that no-one dared tell Queen Victoria that there were women who were attracted to women. Whether true or not, we have no record of the lives of our early LGBTQ+ alumnae. We know they must have existed though. Anne Lister is a great example of a local Yorkshirewoman’s ‘hidden history’; the hidden aspect being her LGBTQ+ identity which was only rediscovered recently thanks to her diary entries. The BBC’s recent adaptation of her life brought her fascinating story into the public eye.
In a time period when marriage was the expectation for women, other women chose to live together as ‘spinsters’. We have no records about them or their lives, but again, we know they existed. Many likely attended Ripon College before dedicating their lives to teaching, or returning to teach at Ripon itself. In a world that would have pushed Mary Goodacre to get married, she remained unmarried until she died. We’ll leave you to ponder why she might have made that decision.
Class, religion and race
We have also not touched on class differences, religion or ethnicity for similar lack of evidence. When Britain was the heart of a cruel and damaging empire, women from around the world might have travelled to Britain to be educated. Likewise, British women of colour probably attended Ripon College during its long history. But like many of the women who attended Ripon College, their stories have been lost. For example, despite using A M Wilkinson’s book extensively, we don’t know who they were. We assume they were a former student, but have been unable to confirm it.
Likewise, although we know that Ripon had a strong missionary ethos, something which the Victorians applauded and we now acknowledge as imperialistic and damaging, we don’t know if any non-Christian women attended. We know that in the late 1800s, Mary Goodacre was head of the non-Anglican hostel. But we don’t know whether this only accommodated other Christian denominations ( like Catholics or Methodists) or if it accommodated women from other religions.
Although it’s likely that Ripon College and later, York St John, had a more diverse student body than discussed, we just don’t have much evidence about our earliest alumnae to tell those stories.
Looking ahead
When discussing the problems women faced throughout history, it’s impossible to do so without acknowledging how this intersected with their class, race, sexuality and religion. Whilst all women faced oppression, women of colour, working-class women, non-Christian women, trans-women and non-binary people faced further oppression because of their perceived ‘differences’ from the norm. If a middle-class, Christian, heterosexual, white woman from the 1870’s faced a lack of rights, mediocre at best medical care and a lifetime of domestic work, women who did not fit this mould faced further barriers to living a happy life.
As we celebrate the history of our alumnae for International Women’s Day 2022, we must also acknowledge their struggle and their erasure from the narrative. Looking ahead, we strive towards intersectional equality, diversity and inclusion and look forward to telling a more diverse range of alumni stories.
Sources
Please see our separate post to view our source list for the past three blog posts.
