Gallery: 50 Years of Women at Wadham

The academic year 2024-25 marks 50 years since Wadham (and four other Oxford colleges) admitted female students. The College community – tutors, staff, students and alumni – is organising a series of in-person and virtual events through the year, and hosted the inaugural event on September 21. It followed a University-wide 'Meeting Minds' panel hosted by Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey called 'Five @ Fifty: the first co-ed colleges looking to the future'.

For 50 years, Wadham women have been making their mark in the world, going on to do extraordinary things in all walks of life, and we're so thankful that many of you attended the inaugural event to look back on half a century of history and forward to the next 50 years.

Alumni and friends from the initial co-education years at Wadham were invited to come together to reminisce about their experiences. A number of testimonies were also filmed as part of our online documentation project, ‘Early Wadham Women’.

Wadham hosted two panels in the Holywell Music Room. The first, hosted by Prof Shazia Choudry, Hackney Fellow in Law, brought together alumnae whose careers involve advocating for the rights of women and girls in a global context. We were delighted to be joined by speakers including Abby Ajayi (Law, 1998), Verena Knaus (Honorary Fellow | History, 1995) and Lucy Lake (Honorary Fellow | Human Sciences, 1991).

The second panel, hosted by Cláudia Pazos Alonso, Fellow and Tutor in Portuguese and Tutor for Women, discussed women's role in Higher Education: the progress over the past fifty years and the challenges which persist today. We were delighted to be joined by panellists Professor Dame Sally Mapstone (Honorary Fellow | English, 1975), Karmjit Kaur (PPE, 2004), Professor Ursula Martin (Emeritus Fellow) and Jane Garnett (Tutor in History and the History of Art).

Thanks to everyone who joined us for this, particularly those who took part in the sessions in the Holywell Music Room. Thanks also to Mary Ann Sieghart (PPE, 1979) for participating in the Meeting Minds event, Hilary Davies (French & German, 1974) for the dinner speech, and to our Warden, Robert Hannigan. Our congratulations too to Eli Rubies (Classics, 2019), our Campaign Coordinator.

We look forward to sharing details about further events in this series shortly.