yayy college

It’s true- when people ask if we still need feminism I get really indignant and start yelling at them that of course we do, why a perfect example is last week when you told me to go make you a sandwich. But it’s sort of a victory as well, that people see the world, or at least America, as having come a long way.

And we have come a long way. But a lot of that was only in the past 100 years, which, in the scheme of things, is a ridiculously short time.

Consider education. It’s second semester of my junior year, so I’m feeling the college pressure right now. As I type, my College Board approved SAT Practice Book is sitting next to me. And yet, for all the bitching I do about the college process, this is a relatively new pressure that I’m pretty lucky to have.

Let’s look at the facts.

Coeducation in college didn’t start until 1837 (172 years ago), and then only a few women were admitted to Oberlin.

In 1965, Princeton‘s boy to girl ratio was 320:1 – yeah ten girls went to Princeton.

Princeton was one of the longest hold out schools to let girls in.

I guess one of Princeton’s biggest worries was that the women would distract the serious, hardworking college boys from their studies, as a Duke student stated:

“The facts: Females having the required intellectual aptitudes to compete successfully in your classrooms will not exactly measure up to the dreams you entertain while reading Playboy.” (Time Magazine, 1965)

Ergo- girls smart enough to get into Princeton will be ugly. First of all, screw you. And second of all, yeah, like every single one of the boys smart enough to get into Princeton will look like Robert Pattinson. My ass.

Another patriarchal concern? The competition with boys. If colleges started letting girls in…there would be less space for guys. THE HORROR.

1965…for those keeping track at home, that’s 44 years ago. Your parents were probably alive then. Your grandparents were probably middle aged. That’s not exactly ancient history.

Columbia’s the best though. They started admitting girls in 1983. 26 years ago. The NYC member of the Ivy League waited until the age of spandex and Madonna before they deemed women acceptable.

So, even though its hard, in the midst of all that stressing about whether to take the ACTs or the SATs, whether to go on that community service trip over the summer- just remember you are lucky to have that stress.

I think my mom told me that once and I nearly ripped her eyes out so I understand if you feel the same way. But still. It’s also a very timely way to remind your peers that we still need feminism!

1920- That’s the year we (American women) got to vote. 89 years ago.

1966- India – Indira Gandhi is the first Prime Minister of India

1969- Israel- Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister

1974- Argentina- Maria Estela Martinez de Peron becomes first woman President of Argentina and first female head of state in the Americas

1979- Bolivia- Lidia Geiler first woman elected President

1988- Pakistan – Benazir Bhutto first woman elected Prime Minister (first woman elected to lead a Muslim country)

1990- Ireland- Mary Robinson first woman elected President

1990- Haiti-  Ertha Pascal-Trouillot first woman elected president

1991- France- Edith Cresson is the first woman Prime Minister

1993- Rwanda- Agathe Uwilingiyimana first woman Prime Minister (for 18 days-assassinated in 1994 during Rawandan Genocide)

1999- Latvia- Vaira Vike-Freiberga elected President- first woman to be a president of a Eastern European country of the former Soviet Union

2003- Peru- Beatriz Merion Prime Minister [dismissed after 6 months on speculation that she was a lesbian, despite her 60% approval rating]

2004- Mozambique – Luisa Diogo elected Prime Minister

2007- USA- Hilary Clinton one of the first women ever to be considered for US Presidency

2007- India- Pratibha Patil elected president

Women’s history in politics fits on less than one page of word-processed print. Men’s history fits into that stupid 400-page history book I lug around school all day that will probably be identified as the cause of my back problems in later life. It’s true that women have come a long way, but every time that I hear women have a great presence in politics I get really angry-mostly because of this list. Not even every country has had ONE woman in upper ranking politics. I’m sure it’s true that there are a lot of women in politics generally- just because they’re not prime ministers or whatever doesn’t mean they’re not there. And that’s fine, and I do hope that’s true. But compare this list to the list of MEN who have been prime ministers in those countries, then consider that they are only about 50% of the population – 49% last I heard.

That’s not right.