70 THE UNIVERSITY AND WOMEN'S WORK 



for the learned professions but take alarm whenever any other 

 kind of special education is mentioned. People who look with 

 complacency on the association of a hospital with a university 

 for the benefit of students of medicine are sometimes scandal- 

 ized by the suggestion of a university farm or anything in the 

 nature of a workshop. 



I have made these remarks for two reasons. In the first 

 place, I wanted to explain and to discount a kind of criticism 

 to which we are sure to be subjected because we are doing 

 something new in the way of special education. In the second 

 place, I wanted to emphasize the fact that at the present day 

 we have for men, as distinguished from women, university 

 training for a great variety of professions and industrial 

 callings. 



Let us now ask how matters stand in the case of women. 

 What are the university privileges of women? They are 

 practically these, that so long as women are willing to restrict 

 themselves to the same callings as men, they have pretty 

 nearly equal educational opportunities ; but so far as women's 

 special callings are concerned I am aware of no special 

 university courses anywhere in this country. 



The question then arises, are there in fact any such special 

 callings to which university education may be particularly 

 directed ? My own reply to this question is a most emphatic 

 yes. The most usual calling of women, the making and 

 administering of a home, is surely one to which a university 

 may fitly contribute special knowledge. 



We must not assume that this view will be universally 

 admitted. On the contrary, it has been maintained with great 

 vigour and persuasiveness that there is no place at all for any 

 such special studies as I have implied. With respect to all 

 matters of the home we are told that what is wanted is that 

 women should bring their intelligence and common sense to 

 bear upon it, that it is nothing very mysterious, nothing that 



