BOYDJ@QUCDN.QueensU.CA (Jeff Boyd) (03/26/91)
The following letter-to-the-editor appeared in the 27-Jan-1877 edition of the Queen's College Journal. The author was a professor in philosophy and some of the ideas in his letter go far beyond the issue of gender equality (see para. 4 in particular). The context of this letter was a debate over admission of women to classes, and later, degrees at Queen's College (now Queen's University, Canada). I posted an earlier editorial article a few days ago, and you should read it as well if you haven't yet. I should have posted them together, in retrospect. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The only way in which it can be conclusively shown that women are unfit to cope with the studies contained in our curriculum is by letting them have the chance of testing their fitness. I do not myself believe in any such incapacity, my observation and experience lead me to conclude that the average woman is just as capable as the average man of mastering even an abstruse study like that of Metaphysics. And hence I can see no reason whatever for withholding the degree of BA from any woman who is able to obtain the number of marks entitling male students to that degree. The notion that women who carry their education to a higher stage than that which now is customary are likely to be 'unwomanly' seems to me a curious instance of the force of prejudice. I do not think that such a view has any more truth in it than the prejudice which led the ancient Greek boor to decide that it was not 'woman's sphere' to eat at the same table with her husband. I am not aware that there is anything either masculine or feminine in the possession of knowledge ... The state will never in my opinion get the full benefit of the powers latent in its citizens until every person in the nation not only receives the preliminary training given in the common school, but also participates in the higher education afforded by university. I am well aware that, as things at present are, my ideal is a 'city in the clouds'; although I am just as sure that many of our moderately wealthy citizens are highly blameworthy for not making it less of a mere ideal than it is by giving to their children the higher education within easy reach of them. There can, I think, be little doubt that sometime in the future, when the unspeakable advantages of a liberal education are better understood, not only will women be freely admitted to our classrooms but it will be a matter of course for every girl and boy to pass from the school into the university. This dream is I know still a long way from fulfillment, but it is I believe a dream that will yet come true. However this may be, the students of Queen's College will gain more credit to themselves by helping on a needful reform than by throwing stumbling blocks in the way of it.