Reading: True/False - 2024 őszi

It wasn't very long ago that women were first given the opportunity to study at Trinity College Dublin, which may seem shocking for a school that now has an even ratio of male to female students. Provost George Salmon allegedly promised that he would only let women into Trinity College "over his dead body", but his objections were overcome within a year of his death in 1904, and it was decided that there would be no viable reason to prevent women from gaining their degrees just as their male counterparts did. Coincidentally, the first woman to successfully register in the College, Isabel Marion Weir Johnston, did so on January 22nd, 1904, the same day former Provost Salmon died. Her entrance examinations even had to be put off because of his funeral. Trinity College's policy on the admission of women was a progressive view at a time when women did not yet typically receive degrees. While they could technically sit their degree examinations at both Cambridge and Oxford, they would not be given the opportunity to receive their degrees. The lack of degrees meant that women did not earn the same qualification as men even if they took the same steps in university. Trinity's differing policy on women led to a group called the "Steamboat Ladies", hundreds of women who decided to travel to Ireland to receive degrees from Trinity between 1904 and 1907. They were given this nickname due to their arrival on steamboats from the UK. Trinity College expected a small number of Oxbridge women to travel to Ireland for their degrees. However, between 1904 and 1907, 720 women from Oxford and Cambridge arrived with the aim to graduate. The ability to gain their degrees was invaluable for their professional status, especially if their aspirations led to teaching. Although some of the women stayed a bit longer at Trinity College, many of them came over for just one night to participate in the graduation ceremonies. They took one day off, came on the overnight steamboat, stayed one night in Dublin, got their degrees the next day, and went back the following night.