Quotation: Now, that anyone will aver that the subjects of study in any one University are actually the very best possible subjects for women, or even for men, I do not suppose we shall find. But the point is, Who is to decide what is fit for a woman’s brain save the owner of the brain herself? Who has the right to decree that the curriculum for the goose ought not be the same as that which collegiate wisdom has appointed for the gander?” (Cobbe, 84)

Comment: In this passage, Cobbe is making an argument for an “open” education of women, meaning that women should have the right/power to chose her own path of education. Later in her argument, Cobbe says that just because one woman is not interested in subjects (say the humanities), that doesn’t mean that every woman should be barred from studying them. While Cobbe is generally hopeful about women pursuing higher education, she worries about biased curriculums and women being forced into studies that “suit them” best as women. I feel like we still see biased curriculums today, especially within STEM related fields. If a woman goes into a health program, some people automatically assume she’s training to be a nurse or some type of assistant to a male counterpart. Women who go into computer sciences are also called out and her knowledge and intelligence are often doubted. There are other fields where gender bias is still relevant today, but naming them all would require more space than what I have.

Question: Due to Cobbe’s worries of gender bias forcing women into “traditional” or acceptable routes of education, I wonder what early curriculums or class schedules looked like for women. What was a typical ‘day in the life’ for a woman pursuing a higher education?