This Women’s History Month, we invited PhD students Amy Longmuir and Abbie Tibbott, researchers for the Celebrating Class: Working-Class Identities at Reading centenary project, to share their thoughts on class and gender.

Amy Longmuir conducted archival research at Special Collections, tracing the history of working-class students who passed through Reading.

“Presenting at the Celebrating Class conference as part of the University’s centenary celebrations was a unique opportunity to really get talking about class in a room that wanted to listen. Completing the archive-based element of the project, I was able to explore the University’s origins in its various technical college iterations and the numerous working-class projects that have accompanied the University’s expansion to what it is today. The considerable material held at Special Collections and the MERL Library allowed me to go beyond official statistics and policy to explore how working-class students really engaged with the University, especially the Workers Educational Association and its provision for workers’ education throughout the 20th century.

The area that really resonated with me, and indeed with my own research, was the student activism against the notion of the University as an ‘Ivory Tower’ and tuition fee increases in the 1970s. Although presenting these narratives at the conference was difficult due to the fragmented nature of the archive, I hope it shone a light on the active questions around class that students were raising, many of which remain pertinent to the working-class experience today: how do, or even can, we reconcile the class differences between students and workers, and how does the University system economically restrict working-class students from engaging (fully) in higher education?

It is very easy to begin talking about class by locating or justifying ourselves as working-class, whilst standing in a room full of academics giving presentations and having discussions that are distinctly abstract. Key for me, though, remains the challenging of the ‘typical’, the justification given to be seen as working-class, the buzz words for working-class credentials. The PhD researcher contingent of this project was all-female, and talking about class as a woman is one that always necessitates intersectionality. What this doesn’t mean, though, is that it shouldn’t be talked about at all – something which I hope this conference has demonstrated, and which, going forward, will be key to making higher education a place in which discussions of how class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and (dis)ability can equally come to the fore. My discussion of historic working-class engagement with the University did, I hope, show that we are all part of the next step – truly making universities places to be ourselves.

Brent Curless, writing for the student-led paper Shell in 1974, ended his article with ‘we are in an ivory tower, and the only way out is through the gates’.[1] To end, I’d like to go one step beyond this. The only way in is through the gates, and those of us who have made it in must ensure those gates remain open as wide as possible.”

Abbie Tibbott conducted an extensive literature review, resulting in a report detailing what working-class students need from a 21st-century university.

“I found the whole process really transformative. Not only did I have to dive in and learn about a whole new discipline, but I also had to come up with suggestions to improve things for future students. As a woman, I’ve been in plenty of situations where I have been talked over or dismissed. This, combined with my working-class background, has led me to unconsciously mask, altering my speech patterns and developing a persona at university. It was not lost on me that balancing my PhD with this job was driven not only by a passion for the project, but also by financial necessity.

Speaking at the conference was really liberating, as I want to talk more about being working-class, and this gave me the push to do so. As I said at the conference, I have been surrounded by supportive female mentors who push me to be my very best and lead by example. I had to push away the feeling that I was making a fuss and be confident that people are interested and motivated to help working-class students and close the attainment gap. A key element of this, for me, is linking learning to skills and employability.

As a historian, I have seen the silences left by women, and I mean to be more proactive to make sure that women’s voices are heard and that we are taken seriously as agents of change.

I hope this project was a real catalyst for change at Reading. There is so much to do, and I would love to explore class and gender further in the future. For now, though, I feel like I can be ‘me’ in my role as Digital Humanities Officer, and I hope that other working-class women continue to push boundaries in what they think is possible.”

Something profound about this project was the friendship that was formed between us, and this Women’s History Month, we encourage others to reach out and be part of the community. Although the project may have come to an end, we are exploring new opportunities to continue researching, talking, and presenting about being working-class at university. You can find out more about the conference and watch more of Abbie’s testimony in this film, which captures some of the project’s contributors.

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[1] B. Curless, ‘Ivory Tower?’, Shell, (1974), Reading, University of Reading’s Museum of English Rural Life Library, RUR F PER – Shell.