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Higher Education for Women
WHEN Sir William Dawson became Principal of McGill in 1855, there was no provision in the University for the instruction of women. They were not permitted to attend the classes available to men. Indeed, women's education was then under discussion and debate in Great Britain and the United States. It had many supporters but it had also many opponents. The agitation for the higher education of women on equal terms with men, particularly in the liberal arts, went back to the days of Defoe's “Essay on Projects” in which he included a section on “an Academy for Women.” It had echoed from his time down through the eighteenth century until 1791 when Mary Wollstonecraft published her systematic treatise, “A Vindication of the Rights of Women.” Thereafter the original plea merely for education became but a minor part of a larger demand for the franchise and for general equality; and instead of a sober emphasis on the necessity for learning, there was a somewhat hysterical clamour that women “should be admitted side by side with men into all the offices of public life with respect both to kind and degree.” This agitation soon gathered abundant ridicule by the advocacy, led by Amelia Jenks Bloomer, of reform in women's dress, which would make it, as far as possible, the same as that of man, and would consequently be an outward and visible sign of the equality of the sexes.
Dr. Alexander Johnson
Vice-Principal of McGill University
1886-1903
The derision and scorn incurred by the movement because of the unwise zeal of some of its advocates had not yet passed in the fifties. In Canada, the question of higher education for women was avoided, or regarded with doubt or indifference. But Principal Dawson was an earnest and enthusiastic believer in women's education, and early in his connection with McGill he formed plans for the providing of facilities to make such education possible in the University. Because of the indifference and the opposition to what was looked upon as a useless innovation, these plans were slow in maturing and in actual accomplishment. The Principal, however, persevered; circumstances were favourable, and in the end his hopes were fulfilled.
In Montreal at that time there was a girls' school, presided over by Hannah Willard Lyman, who later received an appointment to Vassar College. In this school no adequate course of instruction was given in Natural Science. Miss Lyman was desirous that her students should receive some knowledge of that subject, and she asked permission to have her pupils listen to Dr. Dawson's lectures, which were given in the afternoons. Her request was granted and the school girls attended the lectures for one session. But the experiment, for some unexplained reason, was not satisfactory and it was not repeated.
In his annual University Lecture in the autumn of 1869, the Principal expressed his belief in the benefits that might be conferred by the University in providing means for women's education. “I think,” he said, “it would be quite possible for the University to provide lectures on scientific and literary subjects, which would be open to all the ladies' schools in the city, and that certificates of attendance and examination might be given to such pupils. I do not propose either that young women should attend the ordinary College classes, or that except in special cases the ordinary professors should lecture to them. I should have special classrooms, and in many instances at least special lecturers appointed by the University. Of course, this is a purpose for which the constitution of the University does not permit its funds to be used, even if they were sufficient for it—which they are not. I only wish to intimate my conviction that an opening for usefulness lies in this direction—one which I have often wished to have the means of cultivating, knowing that in this country very few young women enjoy, to a sufficient extent, the advantages of the higher kind of education; and that the true civilisation of any people is quite as much to be measured by the culture of its women as by that of its men.”
A few months later, at a meeting of Governors and friends of the University, held in February, 1870, preparatory to making an appeal for funds to the citizens of Montreal, the following resolution was unanimously passed:
“That this meeting rejoices in the arrangements made in the mother country, and on this continent, to afford to young women the opportunity of a regular college course; and being persuaded of the vital importance of this matter to the cause of higher education, and to the well-being of the community, respectfully commends the subject to the consideration of the Corporation of the University, for such action as the expected addition to the endowment may enable them to take.”
But no part of the funds which were contributed as a result of the appeal were specially assigned to the education of women. In December following a reception was given in Molson Hall to the benefactors of the University who had recently subscribed so generously to its revenue. At this gathering, Chancellor Day referred to the necessity for providing the means of furnishing a higher education for women, “a matter,” he said, “in which we are wofully behind the age.... I trust the time is not far distant when McGill College may become the privileged instrument of ministering to this urgent need. In this whole matter of education for either sex, women are directly and deeply interested.”
A few months later, in 1871, Hannah Willard Lyman, the former Principal of the school for girls, died. Her former pupils in Montreal determined in some way to perpetuate her memory. They collected the “Hannah Willard Lyman Memorial Fund” for the establishment of a scholarship or a prize for women to be awarded in McGill when women would be admitted to its classes, “in a College for women affiliated to the University or in classes approved by the University.” But no way existed for the carrying out of this desire. The Governors showed little sympathy with the idea of admitting women students to men's classes; they had no objection to a distinct women's College, but no funds for such an undertaking were available. Dr. Dawson then appealed for help to the women friends of McGill, and his appeal at once met with a ready response. In the autumn of 1871 a number of women interested in the higher education of their sex met at the residence of Mrs. John Molson, and formed the “Ladies' Educational Association of Montreal,” for the purpose of obtaining, in the absence of University opportunities, instruction for its members. This Association carried on its work for thirteen years, until women were at last admitted to McGill. It was self-supporting, although it asked only very moderate fees from its students and paid its lecturers generously. Principal Dawson gave the introductory lecture of the first session in October, 1871. The students who took the full course of lectures and passed an examination on the work received a certificate of “Associate in Arts.”
Percy Molson
Founder of the Molson Stadium
Killed in action July, 1917
But the hope of admitting women to the classes in Arts had not been abandoned. On October 25th, 1882, Professor Clark Murray moved at a meeting of the Arts Faculty a resolution, which was carried, to the effect “that the educational advantages of the Faculty of Arts should be thrown open to all persons without distinction of sex.” In the summer of 1884 a deputation of women who had already passed the examinations for Associate in Arts waited on Principal Dawson and asked that opportunities be provided in the College to enable them to proceed to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The obstacle in the way of granting this request was the lack of funds. But a few weeks after the request was made, Sir Donald Smith agreed to give a sum of $50,000 for the purpose, on conditions to be settled by him. These conditions stipulated that the classes for women were to be wholly separate and distinct from those for men, and that no expenditure was to be incurred beyond the income of the endowment. The offer was accepted by the Board of Governors. The sum given was sufficient to provide the necessary duplicate courses for the first and second years in the Arts Faculty, and in the autumn of 1884 the first session for women in McGill commenced with fourteen regular and thirteen partial students. The women's classes were given in the lecture rooms of the east wing of the Arts Building. The students were known as “Donaldas,” after the name of their generous benefactor, and the course was known as the “Donalda” course.
After two years had passed, in October, 1886, Sir Donald Smith increased his endowment to $120,000 in order to provide sufficient income for courses in all four years, and thereby to enable women students to proceed to the B.A. degree. In the session of 1886-87 there were twenty regular and fifty-eight partial students enrolled in women's courses, and in 1887-88 the number increased to twenty-six regular and eighty-two partial students. At the end of that session eight women received for the first time the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Higher education for women in McGill was now an assured fact. The Principal's dream had at last been realised.
But Dr. Dawson had hope of a still greater development of women's education. He said: “This great work is not yet complete. We look forward to a College for women, either a College of the University co-ordinate with McGill College, or affiliated to the University. Such College while taking advantage of the Museum, Laboratories, Library, and other appliances of McGill College, and to a certain extent of its staff, will have its own building, provided with all modern improvements and refinements for educational work.... I desire to express, as a matter of personal experience, my entire sympathy with those who hold that the education of women should be conducted, as far as possible, in separate classes.” The hope here expressed was again to be realised—and Principal Dawson lived to see the accomplishment of his plans. Sir Donald Smith, then Lord Strathcona, was again appealed to. He increased his endowment fund for the erection and equipment of a building such as the Principal had in view, and the building of the Royal Victoria College was begun in 1895. On September 4th, 1899, two months before Sir William Dawson's death, the Royal Victoria College for women was opened, and the women students of McGill had at last a home and lecture-rooms of their own, “provided,” as Sir William had dreamed, “with all modern improvements and refinements for educational work.”
Lord Strathcona
Since the opening of the Royal Victoria College the opportunities for the education of women in the University have been greatly enlarged and developed. To-day women students are enrolled on equal terms with men, not only in the Faculty of Arts, but in the Faculties of Law and Medicine, and in the Departments of Commerce and Physical Education. Indeed, women students are admitted to all Faculties and Departments of the University with the exception of the Faculty of Applied Science. Women graduates of McGill have continued to go out for thirty-three years to fill important posts and to take a prominent place in the building up of Canada and in service to humanity. In the half-century that has passed since the formation of the “Women's Educational Association of Montreal,” with its humble beginnings and its scanty courses for “Associates in Arts,” the higher education of women has made undreamed of progress. In McGill it owes its guidance and its growth to the tolerance in a time of prejudice, the determination in a period of opposition, and the patient faith in a day of discouragement, of Sir William Dawson, who believed in the greatness of women's sphere and influence in his country and in the world.
