Durham was one of the first universities to admit women on an equal footing to men in 1890. Since then, thousands of incredibly bright and ambitious women have studied at Durham and gone on to do inspiring and brilliant things. Here are just some of them.
1.) Lily van den Broecke MBE
Lily is a British rower who incredibly won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics as the coxswain in the mixed coxed four for Great Britain. Lily was a member of Castle and graduated from Durham in 2014 with a 2:1 in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
2.) Sophie Hosking MBE
Sophie was at Trevelyn and graduated with a degree in Chemistry and Physics in 2007. She then proceeded to win a gold medal for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics lightweight double skulls. Since retiring from rowing, Sophie is currently training as a solicitor.
3.) Biddy Baxter MBE
Biddy was an undergraduate at Mary’s, graduating in 1955. She was among the earliest female editors at the BBC, and is best known as the former editor of the much-loved Blue Peter. Biddy devised much of the format that is still used today, including the legendary Blue Peter badges!
4.) Holly Colvin
Holly was a natural scientist at Durham as well as a cricketer for England. She currently holds the record of being the youngest test cricketer to play for England when she made her test match debut aged 15! Since retiring in 2015, Holly works at the ICC (International Cricket Council) in Dubai.
5.) Katharine Gun
Katharine studied Japanese and Chinese at Mary’s before working as a British translator for GCHQ. In 2003, she became publicly known for courageously leaking top-secret information to the press concerning illegal activities by the USA in their push for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This year, a film recounting Gun’s actions in 2003 is due to begin filming.
6.) Libby Lane
In January 2015, Libby Lane finally became the first woman to be appointed as a bishop by the Church of England, after its General Synod voted in 2014 to allow women to become bishops.
7.) Mary Stewart
Mary graduated from Durham in 1938 with first-class honours in English. She was a best-selling novelist who developed the romantic mystery genre. Stewart led the revolution of a new type of female heroine; her characters were intelligent, brave and adventurous, and romance was generally a by-product of the narrative rather than at its centre.
8.) Louise Roe
Louise was at Collingwood and graduated from Durham with a first-class honours in English Literature. She is now one of America’s most popular and successful TV presenters, hosting The Clothes Show, E!’s Fashion Police and Plain Jane. Louise also regularly writes fashion articles for Vogue and Elle, and has her own shoe and jewellery line.
9.) Lorraine Heggessey
Lorraine is a pioneering television producer and executive, and is notable for having been the first ever woman to be Controller of BBC 1.
10.) Caroline Swift DBE
Swift was President of the Durham Union Society, and is notable for being leading counsel to the Inquiry in the Shipman Inquiry, which began in 2001.
11.) Christina Odulana
Christina was one of St Mary’s first international students and one of the first black students at Durham. After graduating in 1956, Christina Odulana became a pioneering educationalist; she was the first indigenous headmistress to several different schools in Nigeria and endeavoured to make high quality education accessible to all, regardless of their background.
12.) Maali Qasem
Maali is a hugely successful business woman and political activist. After completing her Law with Economics degree at Mary’s in 1999, Maali returned to her home country of Jordan and became the CEO and founder of Schema; established in 2007 it was the first advisory practice in the Middle East and North Africa region that focused purely on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. In 2010, she was granted the coveted Rising Stars of Corporate Governance award and in 2011, was recognised as one of the top 100 Thought Leaders in Europe and Middle East from Trustworthy Business Behaviour. Maali is also a strong advocate of women’s rights. She is a regional director for ALWANE (Active Leaders for Women’s Advancement in the Near East) which works towards the advancement of women’s leadership in the Arab world.