The Rise of Women at Vanderbilt

The increased status of women as scholars on Vanderbilt’s campus at the turn of the century was due in large part to the efforts of Mary Henderson Kirkland, wife of Chancellor Kirkland. She and other faculty wives promoted the development of the Woman’s Club to support faculty wives and women students. The club’s events ranged from traditional music concerts and literacy discussions to topics on social problems, political movements, and current events. Increasingly more female students graduated from the university as the barrier between the two genders began to break down. Female students also began participating in leadership with roles as class poet, treasurer and historian.