All-Female Cambridge College Lets In Students Who Were Born Male
Cambridge’s oldest women-only college has sparked a storm by saying it’ll keep admitting trans women, even after the Supreme Court ruled a woman means a biological female. The Mail has the story.
Newnham College, which has feminist Germaine Greer, actress Emma Thompson and presenter Clare Balding among its alumni, has created a gender policy stating it is open to all “female” applicants – including those born as men.
Although it has been accepting trans-identified males since 2017, its new policy document enshrines their ability to access the single-sex space.
On Saturday night, furious campaigners pledged to report the college to the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Charity Commission over a possible breach of equalities law.
They say the stance defies April’s Supreme Court ruling in which five justices unanimously said ‘woman’ means a biological woman and that a trans woman does not have the right to use a women-only space or service.
Postgraduate student Maeve Halligan, who co-founded a single-sex feminist society at the university, the Society of Women, said the decision shows Newnham is “no longer an all-female college”.
Yet in a letter to students seen by the Mail on Sunday, college principal Alison Rose said the policy had been “cleared by the college’s lawyers” and would ensure it stayed “inclusive”.
Maya Forstater, chief executive of charity Sex Matters, said: “Following the Supreme Court’s clarification that the Equality Act 2010 follows the ordinary meaning of the words male and female, the college should have been urgently reconsidering its policy to bring it back into line with the law.” …
She confirmed the college would be reported to the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Charity Commission.
Equality lawyer Audrey Ludwig, a member of the group Legal Feminist, said the college’s decision was “at serious risk of being determined as unlawful”. …
Newnham’s admission policy for students is also in contrast to its hiring guidelines for research fellows, which say: “Following the Supreme Court’s decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025], when we refer to ‘women’ we mean those assigned female at birth.”
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What is a “trans woman”? No such thing.
Headline should read “All female college admits men”.
Trans woman is a weird, gay man or, a hetero man who gets off on dressing in women’s clothes and gaining access to women’s private spaces. In both cases the bloke under the wig is an oddball who should not be trusted.
I do not think we should use a phrase that includes the word “woman” to describe a man.
And what does “assigned female at birth” actually mean? You are born either male or female (with a possibly very small percentage of “intersex”. You are not “assigned”.
Indeed
Language matters
Sex is determined at conception
Indeed. That ‘very small percentage’ being 0.01%. The often ignorantly quoted figure of 1.7%, conveniently fabricated by gender studies professor (activist) Anne Fausto-Sterling, is used to deconstruct the sex binary and redefine it based on identity.
You are assigned in our neo-communist state that we inhabit, comrade.
What could possibly go wrong.
Centres of Learning Excellence, y’all.
Not
I’m trying to imagine the hordes of suitably qualified young men who want to be women bringing sufficient influence to bear on Alison Rose and her team of lawyers (paid for by whom?) to introduce or maintain a policy of admitting males wanting to be females. What would be the consequences for Ms Rose if she resisted any such pressure or is she convinced that she knows better than confirmed biological facts?
So a once female-only college has now morphed into a co-ed college, like the majority of others at Cambridge, even though it’s been welcoming young transvestite men for the last 8 years anyway, because as long as you don a dress you get a free pass and can even use the ‘ladies’, so long as you put the seat down afterwards, presumably. Them’s the rules. And??🤦♀️ Next!!🙄
So how many all male colleges are there at Cambridge? Or indeed at Oxford? Or anywhere? How many all male anythings exist?
Have you popped into your local mosque lately? Are the sexes mixed and worshipping side by side?
Its actually very funny. Woman have for decades whinged on about ‘equality’ and fought many, stupid, feminised battles to give women more stuff, money and access to
Men’s spaces. And now they are hoist into the madness that is the over-feminised society they have caused. Women: destroyers of civilizations.
Stated like the weak, hateful little misogynist that you blatantly are.
”Women: destroyers of civilizations.” Do tell me which female PMs have royally f***ed up the UK. Because from where I’m standing, that particular accolade goes almost exclusively to the men who’ve done a number on the British public. See how that works?🤷♀️
Theresa May was a hopeless PM. Nothing to do with her being a woman, but everything to do with her being hopeless. I can’t stand the woman, but then, I can’t stand many politicians.
The key commonality amongst the usless politician cohort is that they ALL went to Oxford
And you’ve just supported my point. People are crap/corrupt independent of their gender. This is common knowledge. However, there’s men on here who believe women in the UK shouldn’t be allowed to vote ( women are even allowed to vote in Saudi!🤦♀️ ), or be allowed to enter certain professions or to have a role that involves any degree of authority. They hate us because they’re intimidated by us, due to their own feelings of inadequacy. If women could just be subjugated, like in years gone by, all would be tickety boo, because women are the sole cause of society’s ills. 🤡
To make this sentiment make sense one would have to completely ignore the fact it’s by far and away MEN in positions of power that have made a Royal pig’s ear of things within society. But this is unbearable for the women-haters, so they just carry on living in their hostile, delusional bubble, stewing in bitterness. What can you do with an attitude like that?🤷♀️ Pathetic.
Ooh, I’m not sure I’d *completely* agree with it being “far and away…” the fault of men. Most HR departments seem to be staffed mainly by women. HR is the monster that pushes Diversity is Our Strength (Trade Mark) and inventing new ways to be anti-white and especially anti-heterosexual white Briton. Most Lefties councillors I notice are in the main women. Most Lefty school boards tend to be dominated by women.
Women can be just as good at ballsing things up as men can be.
(I was meaning to support your point, but at the same time pointing out one female PM who definitely did her bit to royally eff up the UK)
I’m in agreement that women bear responsibility for cocking things up. Thats indisputable. It’s hardly a sex-specific trait. But neither is wokeism. HR depts are not ran independently of the organisation of which they’re a part of. If there’s DEI infiltration within a workplace go straight to the top and see who has overall responsibility: senior management. Somebody has to have the power to hire and fire the HR Managers, after all.
I just get a bit sick of the general anti-women sentiment that pervades this site. The deflection and denialism. Nothings ever a man’s fault, even when it’s a man in charge. Always look to the female subordinates if you want to point the finger at anybody.🤦♀️ I will always apportion blame where it rightly belongs, irrespective of somebody’s sex.
From the website of “The iconic women’s college at Cambridge University”:
“Founded in 1871, we are the oldest college run by women, for women.”
Over a century and a half later, Newnham duly disappears up its own cervix.
All-Female Cambridge College Lets In Students who are men. Fixed it for you.
Well, this is sad. I was at Newnham 1972-1975 and am very unhappy with their stance on admitting men. In those days there was only about one female student to every six or seven males at Cambridge and only 3 all female colleges. Very different now, but Newnham is still supposedly a women’s college. They’ll get no more donations from me until they drop this nonsense.
“When I see the word ‘inclusive’ I reach for my revolver.” Apologies to Hans Johst for the bastardisation of his ‘Schlageter’ quote. I’m sure he’d appreciate it’s for a good cause.
Looking forward to reading of how they deal with the consequences of this decision ….
You are born male/female that is what you will die as, ypu choose to be a cock in a frock, fine, but you chose, and we do not have to bow to accomodate your decision. In most cases it is clearly attention seeking and should be referred to a MH facility, this is a female institution, as stated by law, and as such actual women should not be comprimised by your pecadillo’s.
How many trans men are there applying to go to Cambridge? And why on earth would they choose an all women’s college? If they were born as a male, even if a hermaphrodite, it would be determined at birth which sex they were. If they are determined to be female, by all means come on in ladies to Cambridge’s all ladies college. Enjoy your selves. If you are a guy…then you should not be applying to go to this college. Is that correct?
If they are so keen on admitting men in frocks, why does Newnham retain single-sex status? Almost every other college threw the doors open to both sexes decades ago. There was always a preponderance of kilts at Magdalene – make of that what you will
For an ‘all-female’ college to say it “would ensure it stayed ‘inclusive'” by admitting men suggests it needs a lesson basic comprehension.