Revolutionizing Women’s Education at the University of Oxford

Book excerpt: This book delves into the impacts and consequences of the policy of co-residence at the University of Oxford, investigating why and how women were kept at the periphery of the university and how Oxford responded to the growing demand for women’s higher education. The book further examines how the admittance of women into men’s colleges and vice versa ultimately shaped the identities of both the University and the student population. The author draws upon identity theory to explain the existence and persistence of single-sex colleges at the University, and the theory of social epidemics or cascades is used to explain the rapid embrace of co-residence by the remaining men’s colleges after its adoption by the first five men’s colleges. In addition, the author uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches to evaluate claims about the impact of co-residence on undergraduate women, women dons, and women’s colleges. Unearthing and providing a sustained and in-depth analysis of a quiet, yet revolutionary, undertaking at one of the world’s most renowned institutions, it will appeal to scholars, faculty, and upper-level students with interests in gender in education, educational inclusion and diversity, history of education, international education, as well as sociology of education and social theory.