Professor of history Dale Soden, author of "A Venture of Mind and Spirit: An Illustrated History of Whitworth College," classifies the history of women at Whitworth into three major eras.
Founding until 1920s
Soden characterizes this as the "Victorian era" at Whitworth where gender roles were defined by the nature of Victorian America. Women's sphere was in the home.
"This could been seen in the rules established for women and ideas about where a woman could teach and the lack of female administrators," Soden said.
1930s through 1960s
This time period falls mostly in the years of Dr. Frank Warren's presidency at Whitworth. Soden said campus was marked by stereotypical gender roles and activities including May queens. Soden said Whitworth did hire a number of female faculty during this time period.
Not a single student body president from 1933-1973 was female, according to Soden's 2003 convocation speech.
Mid to late '60s and later
This era was marked by further progress for women.
"We started bringing in some feminist speakers to campus, there were more female faculty people hired and Title IX - all of these things began affecting female students," Soden said.
The debate over the role of women in the church became a prominent issue, Soden said.
"Whitworth has reflected the cultural war over this issue," Soden said. "The Presbyterian church has been ordaining women since the 1950s. Some other [Christian denominations] still resist to this day."
The cultural battle over women and their roles in ministry have been a "microcosm" on the issue, Soden said.
"You can learn a lot about gender in America by tracing women's history at Whitworth and a lot about the struggle within Christianity," Soden said.
Contact Jasmine Linabary at jasmine.linabary@whitworthian.
View an interactive timeline of the history of women at Whitworth
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