The first women to attend Wisconsin impacted women’s experience today
When you look around campus today, it’s hard to believe that the University of Wisconsin was ever a place that only men attended. Every other face you see is a woman’s. In fact, today there are more women on Wisconsin’s campus than men. But that doesn’t mean that it was easy for many women to attend Wisconsin. There were numerous hurdles that women in the late 1850s up until now had to overcome. When I was researching for this piece I stumbled upon an article titled “Women In The University of Wisconsin” by Emma O. Lundberg. This article offered some insight into what Wisconsin looked like from the late 18th century to the early 1900s. Learning about women’s struggles to become a part of the student body at Madison made me find a new appreciation for my own education.
A little bit of backstory about the University of Wisconsin-Madison is that they started admitting women in 1857, almost ten years after its founding, meaning that the foundation of this school was built on the belief that women would not be a part of its community. This is difficult to grapple with and made me realize how hard women must have to work hard to change this mindset. Because women do belong at this university! Knowing this information makes me want to prove that as a woman I belong at this school. It makes me want to work hard to prove that I can add to the community here.
When women attended the university they were only allowed to take classes in the normal college. Meaning their classes were entirely female and limited to certain subjects. This meant there were few majors women could receive. Many women ended up becoming teachers or librarians as a result. It is heartbreaking to think about how little say many women had in their education. When I looked at the list of jobs Wisconsin graduates had as of 1908 none of them were in the field I am currently studying to be a part of. This makes me thankful that eventually women were allowed to earn degrees in any department at the university in 1866. I am also glad that the first woman to graduate from the university earned degrees from the college of letters and science. These six individuals served as role models for me in my own perseverance to earn a degree from this college.
These setbacks women have had to face in the past shouldn’t be forgotten. I think it’s important that the school remembers who the first women to attend this university were. While attending this school I want to learn about the stories of women who have studied at this school before me. However, a large amount of the honoring of individuals seems to be of men at this school. The constant highlighting of their actions can make me as a woman feel as though what I am doing at this school won’t be valued as much as the man sitting next to me. A big issue I have struggled with is the fact that the vast majority of the dorms on campus are named after men. Only two dorms that I could find, Elizabeth Waters Dormitory and Vel Phillips residential hall, are named after women. The very dorm that I live in is named after a man. I think in order to recognize the women of the past buildings need to be named after them and students need to be educated about their actions. Learning about the first women to attend the University of Wisconsin made me grateful for all they accomplished and the privileges I have today. I think these stories need to be told to the student body so they too can realize all that these women have done for us.