It's the 40th anniversary of Oxford's all-male colleges welcoming women

Forty years ago a young woman from Prince Edward Island in Eastern Canada arrived as just one of the hundreds of young newcomers to Oxford.

But by simply walking through the porter’s lodge at Wadham, Daphne Dumont was to find herself ushering in a new era, not only at the 400-year old college, but the university itself.

For 1974 was to prove a pivotal year in the long story of the admission of women into Oxford University, with no fewer than five male colleges at Oxford University offering 100 places to female applicants, representing a major step in making the university a co-educational institution.

Brasenose, Jesus, Wadham, Hertford and St Catherine’s were the first male colleges to admit female undergraduates.

Previously, female students could only study at the five female colleges, which were granted full collegiate status in 1959.

But if her presence at Wadham represented new ground for the college, Wadham, equally, certainly came across as a strange and unfamiliar place to Ms Dumont.

Ms Dumont, 61, who now works as a lawyer on the other side of the Atlantic, recalled: “I had a curious reaction to it having come from North America. I was a little disorientated by it, because I came from a fairly mixed college.”

She came to Oxford after studying for a philosophy BA at the University of Ontario. Soon after her arrival in 1974 she had told The Oxford Times: “When I arrived here, the bursar told me that I was the first woman.

“I’m astonished, because in Canada where I have been studying, university colleges are mixed as a matter of course. It seems to me that it’s happened here about 300 years too late.”

She had decided to apply for Oxford after studying on a summer course at Corpus Christi College.

A keen rower, Ms Dumont was to become a member of the Wadham College ladies’ crew who were to be Head of the River in 1976.

She said: “By sheer hard work and labour, Wadham College was the first boat that crossed the line in 1976.

”I was in the bow, so I was the first to cross the line.”

Ms Dumont received the Order of Canada in 2012 and plans to return to Oxford in September to be reunited with former friends.

She added: “The university spent two or three years planning bringing in the statutes, so that they could accept the women.

“The deal was that it would be a five-year experiment.”

Fiona Greig, a freelance TV producer, rowed in the first Jesus College women’s eight in 1975.

She said: “In my first year, the college got together a woman’s eight. That was really exciting.

“We got bumped fairly early on, but it was the taking part that counts.”

The PPE graduate said: “One of the reasons I applied to Jesus was because it was one of the colleges going co-ed.

“I don’t think I would’ve wanted to go to one of the female colleges. Part of the fun of going to university was to mix in with everybody. I was one of the first from my school to apply to Oxford and I didn’t know what to expect.”

Ms Greig has fond memories of her time at the university, and said: “When you are 18 and there are lots and lots of boys who want to talk to you, it is fantastic.”

After university, she went on to work as a producer and director for Yorkshire TV.

Looking back, she remembers that “in Jesus, the college went to a lot of trouble to make sure we were comfortable”.

Ms Greig added: “I feel privileged now.”

Professor Gilliane Sills, 70, an Emeritus Fellow of St Catherine’s College, was the first female Fellow at the college.

Prof Sills was appointed by special election in 1974 and went on to work as a tutorial Fellow in engineering science.

The 70-year-old worked at the university until 2005.

For Prof Sills, her first year of leading tutorials at St Catherine’s College was a steep learning curve.

She said: “When I applied for the post at Oxford, it was to teach engineering. My PhD was in engineering, but I had never taught it at undergraduate level.

“I would have to work into the small hours of the morning preparing for tutorials. But it is a very rewarding way of teaching, because you really found you got to know the students rather well.”

The engineering professor was awarded a BA in mathematics from the University of Exeter in 1965, and a PhD in engineering from King’s College London.

She added: “I do remember being very well supported by the college. Everyone was very helpful. I remember Alan Bullock, the Master, asking me if I would join the domestic committee at the college. He took great pains to explain that he wasn’t asking me to join the domestic committee because I was a woman.”

Prof Sills is a member of Woodstock Music Society and lives in Botley with her husband, Richard, 73.

Out of about 40 Fellows at St Catherine’s College in 1974, Prof Sills was the only woman.

She said: “It was a surprisingly long time until all of the colleges got more than just a very small number of women fellows.

“I must say that the whole idea now that the colleges would be single sex seems a very strange one. I think they are better institutions because of it.”

To celebrate 40 years of co-education, Oxford University is hold a series of lectures and events.

St Catherine's College will host an event on women in politics on May 12 at the Mary Sunley Building, while Hertford College is planning a new exhibition of 21 photographic portraits of Hertford women. Hertford will also host a gaudy for all students who matriculated in the mid-1970s on Friday, September 19.

As for Wadham, it will host an afternoon of discussions chaired by Anne McElvoy on Saturday, September 27, with a special alumni weekend to celebrate co-education from Friday, September 19 to Sunday, September 21.

Forty years on, Sarah Pine, the Oxford University Student Union’s vice-president for women, says that while a lot has changed in terms of equality, women still have a different experience to men.

She said: “The culture around Oxford is still based on traditions and structures that were not built to include women.

“Everything from the lack of women in portraits on the walls to the gendered gaps in finals grades puts women at the margins.

“Whilst women have made massive gains over the past 40 years, I still felt the reality of inequality whilst studying here.

“Since then, there are more women tutors, more initiatives for women, and (hopefully) fewer incidents of harassment. However, that doesn’t mean that we have now reached an egalitarian paradise.”