Women-only college at Cambridge open to ‘marginalised’ men

ONE OF Cambridge University’s last women-only colleges is to accept men from 2021, as its president says there are now “other underrepresented groups”.

The president of Lucy Cavendish College said its new admissions policy “reflects a clear commitment to widening participation”.

Professor Dame Madeleine Atkins announced that the college would open its doors to “excellent students from non-traditional backgrounds, regardless of gender” and the minimum entry age of 21 would also be abolished.

Given that mature women are no longer “severely under-represented” at Cambridge University – as they were in the 1960s when Lucy Cavendish was founded – the admission policy must change to reflect this, she said.

“Women of all ages now have access to all Cambridge colleges as undergraduates, graduates and fellows,” Dame Madeleine said.

“The demographics of participation in higher education have also changed, and there are now relatively fewer women unable to go to university at 18 or 19, regardless of their background.”

The move is intended to support Cambridge University’s mission to “increase access and participation for under-represented groups”, she added.

The college’s decision to go coeducational leaves just two women’s colleges in the UK: Newnham and Murray Edwards College, both at Cambridge. All the previously women- only colleges at Oxford now admit men, with the last one, St Hilda’s, admitting the first male students in 2008.

Germaine Greer, a leading feminist and former lecturer at Newnham, said Cambridge’s remaining women-only colleges are “on borrowed time”.

But she added: “I think women get on better in their own environment. They are not being watched or judged on their sexual charms and whatnot – they are at home.”

She also warned that the move may prompt an exodus by female academics who are “loyal” to teaching at a women’s college.

The decision is not driven by legal requirements. Catherine Casserley, an expert in discrimination law, said the Equality Act 2010 allows further and higher education institutions to be single sex. “The provisions prohibiting discrimination in relation to the admission of students do not apply to single-sex institutions,’ she added.

Overall, more women go to university than men in the UK. Universities are under increasing pressure to admit more students from “under-represented groups”. The higher education watchdog, the Office for Students, said institutions must prioritise admitting more students from low-income households or those from ethnic minorities.

Lucy Cavendish was founded by three female academics who taught at Cambridge but were banned from holding fellowships. It counts the actress Dame Judi Dench, crime writer PD James and television presenter Sandi Toksvig among its honorary fellows.