MAN-10265 MAGAZINE.indd - Mansfield College - University of Oxford

Women at Mansfi eld
Tutor For Women: Ros Ballaster
Women remain in a signifi cant minority at Oxford among the undergraduate, graduate, and
fellowship communities. Most colleges therefore designate one female tutor ‘tutor for women’,
with special responsibility to represent the needs or concerns of that minority. I think it is also
important that we celebrate the energy and success of our female members, and to focus on our
positive achievement.
Women’s Dinner
14th November 2008
Rather than host another ‘Women’s Drinks’ session,
Ros decided to organise a Women’s Dinner for students
and tutors past and present, and staff. Designed to bring
together all the women involved in Mansfi eld, this dinner
fi lled the Hall with a variety of age-groups and occupations.
Three of our illustrious alumni gave short talks describing
how they got from Mansfi eld to their current positions.
“If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.”
Margaret Fuller
Speakers
Sarah Harkness
PPE, 1980-1983,
Guardian of
Mansfi eld,
Executive
Chairperson,
Keyways Publishing
Sarah began her
speech with the tale of her days at
Mansfi eld, where she was one of the
second year of women at the college,
when a total of seven were admitted.
The girls of the year were actually put
on the ground fl oor of B and C blocks,
and there were no gates or CCTV back
then! The theme ran through all three
speeches that, whilst at Oxford, it is
diffi cult to see why being there is going
to be an asset, but that afterwards it
never ceases to be of use. Speaking as a
successful businesswoman, the advice
Sarah gave was to attend women’s
events and enjoy them, but to always be
a presence vying with men in what is
still an overwhelmingly male world.
Nell Freeman
Human Sciences,
1999-2002,
Photojournalist
with Getty images
Nell’s profession
has taken her
to 23 countries,
exhausted 3 passports, led to 12
exhibitions, ended a few relationships,
and laid her up with a selection of
tropical diseases. Recently she has
been working in the Sudan with the
Sudanese Liberation Army, and has
been on an all-night vigil with the star
wizards of Kenya. Currently she is
working on the portrayal of AIDs. Her
pictures depict the beautiful simplicity
of the everyday, an everyday where
‘négatif’ in blue biro is the signal of
hope and life: an everyday that marks
out those sipping rosé in the Council
Room as ‘other’ in their own home.
Nell tells us that, as a woman, she can
be a neutral presence in ultra-sensitive
situations, and so can photograph the
otherwise unseen.
Maddie Rowe
English, 1995-
1998,
Mills and Boon
Editor
Maddie moved
through Georgette
Heyer to Aphra
Behn to Kate Millett, and through
these early infl uences she pursued a
long Mansfi eld career in the study
of gender identity, embarking on a
doctorate after an English BA and
Masters in Women’s Studies. At a
critical moment during her thesis she
made a list of what she really wanted
to do, and lit upon editing Mills and
Boon. Maddie interrogates how, as a
feminist and literary reader, she can be
a Mills and Boon editor. Her answer
to this seemingly-rhetorical question is
twofold: this is a milieu where female
desire is taken seriously. It is also a
genre that is widely-read, often by those
whose fi rst language is not necessarily
English: it can be seen as encouraging
literacy.
EH
COLLEGE REPORTS AND NEWS 8