Women At Tech

Since the beginning of Georgia Tech women have been one of the most discriminated groups at tech. From Georgia Tech’s establishment in 1885 to 1952 women weren’t even allowed to attend Georgia Tech as students. It wasn't until the board of regents for the state of Georgia voted to overturn this no women policy, that they were finally allowed to attend. However despite being finally allowed to enroll at tech, they still faced discrimination and persecution that their male counterparts did not. In fact the only reason that women were allowed to attend tech at this time was because Georgia Tech offered a few majors that no other college in Georgia offered. As such, the first women at tech were strictly limited to those majors. It took women 16 more years to be granted the freedom to major in whatever major they want.

                The first semester that tech allowed females to enroll there were a grand total of two women, Elizabeth Herndon and Barbara Diane Miche , that attended the school. Acceptance into the Georgia Institute of Technology was only half the battle though. This pioneer group of women faced extreme challenges once at Tech. They were thrown into a school that had been entirely male for 64 years. For years after Tech started letting females in they still lacked the necessary resources to accommodate them appropriately. The first dorm for females didn’t even open until 1969 and often times there weren’t even female bathrooms in buildings. For years women had to take this degradation and sexual harassment in hopes of graduating with a Tech degree.

                Gradually women began to experience more and more freedoms and less of a minority. The number of women at Tech has skyrocketed from 2 to a whopping 4000. This is just the number of female students at tech too, the number of female faculty has risen from 7 percent of the total faculty in 1979 to the 21 percent that it is now. Women at tech have not only grown in numbers but they have become increasingly influential at Tech over the years. As a result of the harsh treatment against early female students, Tech has become a center for women’s rights organizations. Women have bonded together to overcome these hardships, creating groups such as the Women’s Union, Society of Women Engineers, and several sororities. In the past couple decades these groups, the increasing number of women, and greater awareness of sexual equality have all culminated in women finally having the same opportunities as males as tech. Many women have risen above the discrimination over recent years to become very influential in academics, sports, and offices at tech. For example since basketball became the first funded intercollegiate sport for women in 1981, women at tech have won a national championship in both tennis and softball. Women have also become increasingly prevalent in the higher offices of Georgia Tech’s faculty, holding such positions as student government president, president of the alumni association, academic dean, and chair of Georgia Tech’s national advisory board.

                In my opinion this transition of discrimination to assimilation amongst the female population at tech is consistent with the same trend we can see with desegregation within our society. As with desegregation of African Americans, it is hard to change the mindset and prejudices of the population. However as time went on the rights of the desegregated group increase exponentially as acceptance among people within American society became more widespread over time.