Page 18 - Keble Review 2014

35 years of keble
the prospect of women in College was first discussed at a Governing Body (GB) meeting under the Wardenship of Dennis Nineham in mid-October 1976. It was raised in response to an enquiry from the Chairman of the Conference of Colleges as to the College’s intentions regarding co-residency. A straw vote was taken to test the strength of opinion and GB were resoundingly in favour, though slightly more so for female Fellows than for female students. By the end of that term it was resolved that membership of the College would be open to women as Fellows, postgraduate and undergraduate students.
Early in 1977 GB agreed to amend Clause 3 of the College Statutes which included the phrase, ‘no woman shall be a member of the College’, and the Law Fellows, Jim Harris and Philip Capper, were asked to consider the implications of the Sex Discrimination Act. The proposed changes to the Statutes were sent for approval by the Privy Council and later that term it was decided to admit women students as soon as possible after permission was granted. Approval by Her Majesty the Queen in Council was received in February 1978 which made it possible to open admissions in December that year
to women as well as men. In October 1979, 8 graduates and 26 undergraduates became the first female students at Keble.
Surprisingly there is no reference to having women in College in the GB minutes until May 1978 when the question of separate changing rooms for women at the Sports ground was discussed. It was decided the following year to convert a garage and adjacent store in the sports pavilion into changing rooms for a sum not exceeding £6,000!
Though little was recorded in GB minutes, Fellows at that time and some of the first female students remember other practical changes that were necessary for co-residency. Both Liz (Wilkes) Beattie (1979) and Martin Oldfield (new Fellow in Engineering) recall the installation of locks to bathroom doors and the end to a free for all in the bathrooms especially after rugby and rowing. Also the decision not to allocate ground floor street–facing rooms to women especially
in Hayward and de Breyne Quads was made after it was deemed too easy for intruders to climb through the windows. From the beginning women had rooms amongst the men.
The Warden’s wife, Ruth Nineham, invited the female students to the Lodgings early on in the first term where she told them that it might be an uphill battle to start with and that they were to approach her on anything they felt uncomfortable about. It was at this meeting that some issues were raised, and Liz particularly remembers the request for long mirrors in their rooms!
Women
Celebrating 35 Years of Keble Women in College
Saturday 15 November from 3pm
The programme will include Tea, Presentations by inspiring Keble women, Recital, Reception, and Dinner (a first to have all Keble women in Hall). Booking at www.keble.ox.ac.uk/alumni/events/35-years-of-women-at-keble
18
The Keble Review 2014
The first page of the 1979 College Student Register