Deprecated: Optional parameter $exhibit declared before required parameter $text is implicitly treated as a required parameter in /home/beloitd1/public_html/cms/plugins/Neatline/helpers/Views.php on line 115 Separate, but Equal? · I Need Space: Women's Extracurriculars at Beloit 1895-1920 · Digital Archives Class ExhibitsSkip to main content
Women doing exercises with Indian clubs in the gym in the women’s dormitory, Emerson Hall.
In 1897, the women's dormitory, Emerson Hall, was completed. Housed inside of it was the women’s gymnasium. It was touted as the best women’s college gymnasium in the Midwest and as one of the only ones equal to the quality of men's gyms. However, for its first few years, much of its space was consumed by the geology professor’s equipment.
Three days a week, a freshman taught “healthful exercises,” and two days were dedicated to basketball. The first director for the Gymnasium for Women was hired in 1899, named Cora Ellen Palmer. She recommended women exercise three hours a week, though she gave them individual exams to determine what specific work they needed.
The cover of the Senior Girls' edition of the Round Table
An article from the Senior Women's Round Table edition in May, 1903.
By 1903, women were tired of feeling unappreciated and being excluded. They aired their grievances in the Senior Women's issue of The Round Table, which was exlusively written and edited by the Senior class women. They said they felt undervalued and underappreciated because, even though women made up the majority of attendees at sporting events/meetings, only men's attendance was encouraged and valued. This article would begin the movement towards women getting their own sports teams, but progress was slow.
Click on the second photo for the full article.
Miss Mabel Lee, the 1922 director of the Beloit College Department of Physical Education for Women
Description of the goals and activities of the Department of Physical Education for Women
The history and officers of the Women's Athletics Association (WAA)
Even when the college conceded and gave women sports teams, they still remained separated from the men's athletics. The women were given their own athletic department and department director in 1920. Their sports section in the yearbook, The Codex, was separate from the men's (and came after it). While it was progress, differences like these maintained this separation and women's athletics status as less important than men's.
