The Growing Visibility of Women on Campus

The cover of the Yale Dames Yearbook, 1947-1948.

During the struggles to gain the right to vote, women inserted themselves in the public sphere by marching in massive parades, canvassing, writing and giving speeches, and handing out pamphlets. As societal norms allowed for the appearance of middle- and upper-class women in public, the presence of women on the Yale campus continued to increase. “Lower-class women” usually worked outside the home already. Along with the women graduate students starting in 1892, wives of male undergraduate and graduate students could be seen around the grounds of Yale University. For the first time, clubs and organizations were created by and for women.

In the early 1940s the Yale Dames club, formed by the wives of the male graduate students, was sponsored by Gladys Watkins Seymour, wife of Yale’s president, and faculty wives.

An open letter from September 1957 inviting wives of grads or undergrads at Yale to join the Yale Dames.

The Yale Dames Data newsletter from March 6, 1962 announcing Dr. Buxton as the speaker at an upcoming meeting.

During and after World War II, when there were fewer male graduate students, wives of undergraduates could join. The group held dances, picnics, and hosted speakers, including Eleanor Roosevelt, who spoke at an event in 1943. At one point a Yale Dames event attracted so many women that they asked for and were granted permission to use the Faculty Club, a big step into Yale public spaces.

The Yale Dames were often at the forefront of issues relating to women. This 1962 newsletter announced the upcoming talk of Dr. Charles Buxton, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the School of Medicine, discussing “the background and history of the court cases relating to the anti-birth control laws of Connecticut.” Buxton was a specialist in the field of female infertility and a major birth control advocate. Along with Estelle Griswold, executive director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut and wife of Richard W. Griswold, B.A. 1919, he opened a family planning clinic in New Haven in 1961. Buxton and Estelle Griswold were arrested eight days after the clinic opened, which began a series of legal proceedings that culminated in the 1965 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut overturning the state’s ban on the use of contraceptives.

The Yale Dames changed its name to Women Associated with Yale (WAY) in 1977, and amalgamated with several other women’s organizations around campus. Its membership was open to all women connected to the university except undergraduates.

The first newsletter of WAY.

The Yale University Women’s Organization (YUWO), established in 1965, was designed from its inception to welcome and serve all women members of the Yale community, including female faculty and staff, wives of faculty and staff, and others affiliated with the university in any way. According to the organization’s bylaws, “The purpose of the organization is to provide women in the Yale community with opportunities to pursue intellectual and social interests; to develop friendships; and to support the scholarship program.” For over four decades, YUWO has sponsored Scholarships for Continuing Education, a program designed to provide financial assistance to women of the Yale community.

Mary Almasov, the wife of a Yale doctoral student, in 1972 became the first female police officer hired by the Yale Police Department. She “really didn’t want to work as a secretary,” a typical occupation for graduate student wives at Yale at the time, and applied to both the New Haven and Yale University police departments. She was hired from a pool that included “almost a dozen women” and ended up doing investigations for the detective division of Yale’s police force.