Timeline

In the 60s, women were mostly referred to as "girls" and seen as something not quite essential to higher education: a presence at formal events that is there for men to enjoy, or an entity that is simply there to keep men company.

In his 'humor' column, "On Campus", which was regularly published in the Ring-tum Phi, Max Shulman made "a modest proposal" that women should be allowed to go to college and do college things such as "join sororities, shoot pool at the Union, build bonfires for Homecoming games, pour at the Dean's tea, plait daisies in their hair, organize drag races, sculpt in ice, hook rugs, walk their cheetahs, play Monopoly, find love," but not allowed to actually attend class and learn. "Tell the truth, girls: is that bad?" Shulman asked.

In the 70s, attitudes toward women and therefore the narratives surrounding them started to shift: people started using "women" to refer to them more so than "girls." However, we still saw a lot of questioning of their place in a college campus and what purpose they would serve if they were admitted. Sexism was still rampant, evident in the framing of some articles published in the Ring-tum Phi, such as "'Contact' sponsors feminine invasion."

The 80s were an important decade for women at Washington and Lee University. In 1983, heated discussions began about whether women should actually be admitted to the institution. In 1984, the decision was made. In 1985, the first female undergraduates enrolled.

Even though there was some traction in the feminism movement nationally, Washington and Lee's decision to admit women can't be directly traced back to events on a national level. In fact, despite its achievements, the women’s liberation movement had begun to lose momentum by 1980, when conservative forces swept Ronald Reagan to the White House. So, the most pressing reason might have been the pressure the university felt from other institutions. Nevertheless, the decision generated a widespread reaction among students, faculty, alumni, and members of the administration. The use of the word "women" was drastically on the rise, and narratives toward women started shifting from portraying them as merely decorative, to portraying them as individuals able to contribute to the intellectual realm of the institution.

The usage of the word "women" reached something like a plateau in the early 1990s and established itself in the language of the Ring-tum Phi. The same can be said for women at Washington and Lee. The first undergraduate class containing women had already graduated from the university by the early 90s. However, with more rights and accomplishments for women, also came more issues such as sexual assault and misconduct. The snippet to the left contains an article about the number of sexual assault cases on campus, published in the Phi's October 4, 1990 issue.

In the early 2000s, 15 years had passed since Washington and Lee had gone co-ed. And even though women at the university were still facing discrimination and animosity, they were now active participants in campus life, could express themselves and speak up on various topics such as the Feminist Movement. They could now also join a sorority.

Another remarkable thing that happened in the early 2000s is the establishment of the Women's Studies program, which is nowadays a popular specialization among students. The snippet to the left contains an article from the Ring-tum Phi, from then-writer Katie Howell, about the establishment of the program. This was a huge step for women in terms of solifying their presence on Washington and Lee's campus, and definitely generated more conversation, which, together with the establishment of sororities, might have contributed to the peak in use of the word "women" in the early 2000s.