Early Education

Women in the Victorian era status is quite often viewed as an illustration of the outstanding inconsistency between England's power of the state and affluence and what many, those days and at the present, regard as its atrocious societal conditions. This era is symbolized by the rule of the British monarch, Queen Victoria. It is during this era that difficulties for women escalated because of the hallucination of the "ideal women" shared by the majority in the society. The legal rights of the women in marriage were equal to those of children: they had no voting rights, right to sue or right to own property. They were also viewed as clean and pure and so their bodies were considered as temple that should not be decorated with makeup nor used for such enjoyable things such as sex. The role of women in the society was only to bear children and taking care of the house. They had no right of holding a job not unless it was a teaching job, nor did they have a right to own a checking or savings accounts. In the end of it all, women in the society were given a treatment like that of a saint but without any legal rights (Altick, 1974).

During this era the mind-set towards women and education was that women needed not have the same extensive, established and marketable personalities like that of men. Women were only required to learn things that were necessary in bringing up of the children and in keeping the house. This is the era son why general literature, geography and history were of great importance, while Greek and Latin were of diminutive importance. Those women who had passion for subjects such as physics, law, engineering, art or science were dismissed and satirized. People thought that it was very unnecessary for women to join universities. "The schools architectural and engineering courses will be open to women...but under terms of the regents' decision the feminine students will not be permitted to take courses in industrial management or courses leading to bachelor of science degrees in chemistry and physics" (Albert, 1952).It was even argued that nature of women did not allow them to study because it could make them ill. Women were supposed to remain more or less an "ornament of society" and be inferior to their husbands. They were only required to obey. Women education is very important because it helps them claim their rights and understand their potential in the political, economic, and in social fields. It can help them effect important cultural changes, better the health of the community and awareness and help in poverty reduction.

National Sciences Foundation appointed the Georgia Institute of Technology as the lead institute in a group of Georgia schools seeking to offer leadership in coming up with models for technological and scientific education founded on a commitment of enhancing gender justness in these fields. The statewide venture, called InGEAR: Integrating Gender Equity and Reform, was meant to encourage gender amongst students and faculty, fair practices of teaching, and the same admission to programs in engineering, science, and mathematics. At Georgia Tech, the extent of the InGEAR efforts consequently lengthened to tackle extra matters pertaining to the women's status in all situations all through the institution. Following this, put forward is the Georgia Code Section 32-123 codifies an exclusionary guiding principle: "All the branch colleges of the University of Georgia, except Georgia Tech and the Negro colleges," (Albert, 1952) would be open to any willing white women.

Miss Barbara Hudson was the first student to be admitted in the Georgia tech where she majored in building construction with her main areas of study being surveying and concrete mixing. He lived in the man's world, as the only woman in the tech for two years. She experienced mistreatments from some of her teachers simply because she was a woman and the fellow students, only men, who also under looked on her. "Only one or two of the teachers made me feel like I had no business there...the rest were wonderful" (Betsy, 1950). Diane Michel and Elizabeth Cofer Herndon turn out to be the first two women to join up in program at Georgia Tech in the fall of the year 1952. Diane Michel and Elizabeth Cofer Herndon became the first two women to enroll in classes at Georgia Tech in the fall of 1952. Michel happened to be the first female to make it in the Institute from start to end when she graduated with an industrial manufacturing degree in 1956 (Betsy,1950).