ARGUMENTS over whether women should be allowed to wear trousers may seem like a relic of the 20th century.
But in 2015, the battle for sartorial sex equality rages on at the University of Cambridge, where women must wear skirts to eat at formal college dinners.
Now, though, a mere century and a half after women were first admitted to Cambridge, they will finally be allowed to wear trousers, at one college at least.
St Catharine’s, founded in 1473, has always insisted on male students wearing a jacket and tie and smart trousers with an academic gown, while women, who were admitted in 1979, have had to wear a skirt or a dress.
But that has been overturned thanks to a campaign by a transgender student, who has persuaded the college that women should be allowed to wear trousers and men should be allowed to wear skirts.
St Catharine’s is believed to be the first college at the university to change its formal dress code, though others are expected to follow.
The campaign was led by Charlie Northrop, 25, an American, who is studying for a PhD in classics and began transitioning from male to female earlier this year.
She said: “It’s absolutely wonderful that it has now been passed. It wasn’t that there was much resistance, it’s just the new wording had to be sound and there was a lot of conversations between the college and the committee.
“We had to come up with a way of proposing a new dress code that would omit gender specification but would still keep formality.
“For instance, the college wanted to ensure those wearing suits would wear ties, but female suits don’t have ties. We’ve worded it so if you have buttons down the left side you don’t have to wear a tie, but down the right side you do.
“I’ve been speaking to students from other colleges who hope to make the change across the university.”
The new code, in a notice from the Dean, says: “Formal Hall is an occasion on which all members of St Catharine’s should wear gowns.
“Members and their guests must be dressed in suitably smart dress. ‘Smart dress’ is defined without reference to considerations of gender identity or expression. This means a suit (or trousers and jacket), a shirt with a collar, a tie, and shoes (not trainers or sandals), or equivalently formal dress.
“The staff are instructed to refuse admission to anyone coming to Formal Hall improperly dressed.” Formal Hall is the evening meal in a dining hall where students and dons eat together.
Miss Northrop, from Richmond, Indiana, studied classics at John Cabot University in Rome for five years before moving to Cambridge for post-graduate study.
She added: “I always felt wrong with the sex I was but it was when I was 18 that I began the real process of realising I wanted to transition. It was when I got to Cambridge that it really became possible. The university is inspiring and full of such supportive people.”