Class Year
2025
Document Type
Student Research Paper
Date of Creation
Fall 2022
Department 1
History
Abstract
Women at Gettysburg College from 1956-66 received unequal treatment at a predominantly male school. Despite the 1960s being seen as a time of radical change, the majority of women on campus were content with the rules and social norms which held them in place. Changes and complaints were not widespread or outspoken, but they did exist in organizations such as the Women’s Student Government Association. Examinations of campus policies, dress codes, and dorm regulations illustrate the different standards men and women were held to on campus. Meanwhile Greek life, beauty contests, athletics and first hand accounts of social life reveal a complex relationship between the desires of women at that time, and the world in which they lived. Due to such social rules, Gettysburg College remained cocoon-like for many women. As the outside world and politics began to shift, Gettysburg College would continue to cling to old norms until the last few years of the 1960s.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Garver, Greer and Suter, Emily B., "Complacency and Conformity: The Female Experience at Gettysburg College, 1956-1966" (2022). Student Publications. 1033.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/1033
Comments
Written for HIST 300: Historical Methods