True Trailblazers: The Women of Cambridge

Cambridge University has seen several women become pioneers in their fields, campaigners for reform, and leaders of the world – in spite of the adversity and resistance they faced in years gone by. On this walking tour, you’ll hear stories about the women who fought for educational equality, made groundbreaking scientific discoveries, shaped the arts, and changed politics.

The tour starts where Cambridge University was founded in 1209, at Great St Mary’s Church. While women could not officially graduate from Cambridge until 1948, their contributions to science, literature, politics, and social reform shaped not only Cambridge but the entire world. You’ll pass the Old Cavendish Laboratory and learn about Dorothy Hodgkin, who determined the structures of penicillin and insulin despite severe arthritis, becoming Britain’s first female Nobel Prize winner in science.

You’ll walk along the river Cam and past buildings where women created their own societies of learning while being excluded from the university. The tour concludes at Senate House, where the final battles for women’s equal education were fought and won. Hear about the pivotal votes in 1897 and 1921 on granting women degrees – moments that sparked riots by male students, who vandalised women’s colleges and burned their effigies in the streets.

Along the way, you’ll have a chance to:

• Visit the Eagle Pub where Watson and Crick announced their DNA discovery, and find out how they used Rosalind Franklin’s crucial X-ray crystallography without her knowledge or consent
• Explore Queens’ College, founded by two rival queens during the War of the Roses, which did not admit women until 1980 despite centuries of female royal patronage
• Cross the river Cam to Darwin College, Cambridge’s first co-educational college, and learn about Gwen Raverat, Charles Darwin’s granddaughter and pioneer in the art of wood engraving
• Discover Newnham College, where women created their own academic societies and employed female lecturers when excluded as full members of the university
• Learn about Millicent Fawcett, suffragist leader and co-founder of Newnham College, and her daughter Philippa, who outscored all male students in the 1890 Mathematics Tripos
• Meet the pioneering women of Girton College, including Sarojini Naidu, India’s national poet and a leader in the fight for independence

By the end of this 90-minute tour, you’ll have heard the untold stories of Cambridge’s women, and discovered how they continue to inspire change in the ongoing fight for full equality at the university – and beyond.