‘Nowhere to plant the sole of the foot?’: Women, university education and subjectivity in the early twentieth century

The history of women in Australian universities has not yet been written. In general women remain a footnote in most university histories; perhaps the volumes contain a few photographs of women, shadowy creatures who look so young and earnest as they gaze tentatively from graduation portraits, mortar boards sitting carefully on pinned-up hair. How should we tell the stories of those first enterprising women? A promising start has been made by several researchers who have detailed the battles for admission and some of the subsequent experiences of women graduates. We are all aware of the perceived challenge to the male world represented by the entry of women into their domain. How can we begin to think about the significance of their education, the challenge it presented and its place in the overall pattern of Australian society? Should we only look at those who 'achieved' in the world's terms? Should we examine those who made inroads into the system itself and gained academic posts? Or can we find other ways in which higher education changed the lives of those young graduates?