To the Root – Forty Years: The History of Women at Bowdoin

In February 1980, Lois Egasti, Bowdoin’s Dean of Students, sent this proposal to the Student Life Committee requesting that a “long overdue” Women’s Resource Center be established at 24 College St (Document CS, 61.1). At the time there were 10 women living at 24 College St. The space was to remain a dormitory in addition to a space designated for Bowdoin women. That the space was meant for Bowdoin women is evidenced by the name, Women’s Resource Center, and by the proposal’s suggested purposes for the center. The Women’s Resource Center was to be a “comfortable social setting” and serve as the official headquarters for the Bowdoin Women’s Association. The proposal held that “any groups, Bowdoin or local, concerned with women’s issues” could meet in the center.

According to the feminist issue of To the Root published in March 1980, the regular library did not have any periodicals related to women but did have a subscription to Playboy. One main purposes of founding a Women’s Resource Center was to create a space for a library of material by and about women.

The letter to the editor of the college newspaper on February 22, 1980 announces the acceptance of the proposal and invites people to participate in the Women’s Resource Center (Document CS, 61.2). From the beginning, the members of the Women’s Resource Center Collective attempted to raise awareness and build community. The opening of the center marked an important transition for women at Bowdoin. Women’s presence on campus would be claimed and emphasized on a whole new level, in the form of a small, brown house on College St.

CS61.1 Page 1 - Proposal for Women's Resource Center

CS61.1 Page 2 - Proposal for Women's Resource Center

CS61.2 Page 1 - Orient: Women's Resource Center

CS61.2 Page 2 - Orient: Women's Resource Center

The feminist issue of To the Root, from March 10, 1980, provides evidence of the type of consciousness raising and passionate activism that was taking place on Bowdoin’s campus during the early 1980s (Document CS, 62). The Afro-American Society, the Bowdoin Energy Research Group, the Bowdoin Women’s Association, Struggle and Change, and the Gay-Straight Alliance came together to raise awareness around feminism through this issue of To the Root.

The authors challenge conceptions of feminism and lesbianism, discuss sexism and the women’s movement, explore ways to make change, ask readers to think about male-centered language, and argue for breaking down gender imbalances and inequities. One article, “A Feminist Critique of a Liberal Arts Education” criticizes Bowdoin’s use of male-centered language, its exclusion of her-story in history classes, the scarcity of feminist books and magazines in the college library, and the dearth of women in the permanent and more powerful faculty positions.

This publication includes images as well as text. All of the images, from cartoons to drawings, are of naked woman. One image is a white woman in child’s pose with the caption “I Am a Woman Giving Birth to Myself.” Another features a black woman holding the emblem of the United Nations. These images propagate the idea of reclaiming women’s bodies, self-expression, rights, and history.

To the Root introduces the Women’s Resource Center, which was slated to open the following fall as an “educational tool for the entire community.” The publication shows the determination of Bowdoin’s early feminists to work in coalition with other campus groups to raise awareness around women’s issues.

Proposal for a Women’s Resource Center

To The Root: Feminist Issue