Harvard has long history of sexism

IT IS not just in English football that a sexist culture can be found. The men’s soccer team at Harvard College has been disbanded for the season in a scandal over a lewd ‘scouting report’ that rated the attractiveness of members of the women’s team, including crass sexual comments. The document that surfaced was from 2012, but an investigation revealed the practice continued to this day. How could such attitudes exist at one of the most revered educational establishments in the world? Well, let’s see. Female instruction began at Harvard in 1879, but not formally as part of the university and at a location several streets away. In 1882, the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women was formed, offering certificates not diplomas, and becoming Radcliffe College in 1894. From 1897, Radcliffe diplomas were also signed by the president of Harvard College. Abbott Lawrence Lowell, president of Harvard until 1933, stopped this practice shortly before his retirement and introduced quotas so the male-female ratio at Radcliffe College had to be 4:1 or later 5:2. This ran until 1975. In 1963, women received joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas, but had restricted access to libraries and laboratories, and in 1977 it was agreed they were enrolled in Harvard and Radcliffe, although only

the signature of the Radcliffe president appeared on diplomas. All this means that women could not receive full Harvard degrees until — wait for it, because this is genuinely unbelievable — October 1, 1999. Family Guy and Grand Theft Auto were in existence before gender equality at America’s finest educational establishment. Can’t work out why antiquated attitudes might pervade there, can you?