Gendering the ‘Wisconsin Idea'

The gap in time between women’s first inclusion in American higher education in 1837, and the Nineteenth Amendment allowing women to vote in 1920 is highlighted by many notable attempts on the part of women to carve a place for themselves in public, as well as political, life. While the most noteworthy of these, such as the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, have been written about at length by historians, there are a great number of untold stories from women working on a local or institutional level. ¹ This chapter will tell one such story by focusing on the work of the Women’s Self-Government Association at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Founded in 1898 by the Dean of Women (Annie C. Emery), this group provided a way for female students to play an active role in the governance of their university. ² Women had first been admitted to Wisconsin through its Normal College for teacher training in I860. Complete academic equality was reached in 1875 when women were finally graduated in the same ceremony as men. ³ By looking at a single organisation it becomes possible to ascertain the way women students governed themselves and interacted with their male counterparts as they made their way into larger society.