- When Rochester Athenaeum opened its doors to students in 1829, it was an all-male institution. Over the years, Rochester Athenaeum merged with the Mechanics Institute to become the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute (RAMI) — now RIT. As the university experienced these transitions, more women were admitted into its programs, and as of 2023, 34.8% of students identify as women.
The RAMI Era
Among the first courses available to women were Dressmaking and Laundry Work — offered through the domestic science program, which opened in 1893. At the time, faculty believed these classes would help prepare women for their futures as homemakers. The courses laid the groundwork for women to get involved in RAMI and branch out into other fields, with some women enrolling in STEM courses such as Mechanical Drawing.
In a project titled “Beyond the Needle,” released in 2024, RIT students Milena Kahan and Riley Mason discussed the impact of the domestic science program on the campus curriculum. The two students exhibited their work, which sits on display in the College of Liberal Arts.
“From [the domestic science program’s] humble beginnings, it catalyzed the establishment of multiple departments, fostering the birth of both the College of Science and the College of Business,” the exhibit reads.
The College of Science was created from the courses within home economics that focused on food safety — including Bacteriology and Food Preservation during World War 1 — while the College of Business can find its roots in the food administration and retail courses and co-ops offered to students.
Margaret Gilbert, who graduated from RAMI in 1936, spoke with RIT Archives in 2009 as part of their project to document the history of women on campus. She discussed her time at the university taking sewing and management courses.
“The sewing courses were for people that were studying fashion design and that sort of thing, but my courses were more based on the management end of stuff,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert also edited the student handbook in 1935, where she ran the creation of the guide for the school year. She also contributed to Ramikin, the yearbook club at the time.
“It was a little booklet that was given to freshmen to outline some of the important things,” she recalled.
It was not until World War 2 — when many men were fighting overseas — that RAMI began admitting women into their evening programs and offering STEM materials to them with the intention of helping the war effort.
The RIT Era
After the war, women continued taking courses with their male peers, but the culture of sexism was still pervasive. In 1969, for example, Reporter held a women’s swimsuit contest called “Miss Underwater,” with mostly male students voting on which women were the most attractive. Through the 1980s, the university was aware of at least one faculty member who believed that women were unfit to become engineers.
As the campus continued to grow into the end of the twentieth century, the university introduced initiatives to support women in higher education. In 1999, RIT opened the Women’s and Gender Center to provide resources and a safe space for women on campus, as well as transgender and non-binary students.
Juilee Decker, the program director of museum studies, has researched the history of women at RIT. She shared the strong impacts that women such as Kate Gleason and Marcia Ellingson have had on RIT over the years.
“Kate Gleason was an incredible visionary … And our College of Engineering is the first College of Engineering named after a woman in the world,” she said. “Marcia Ellingson, she was very much interested in the development of NTID and helped support that.”
By the early 2000s, RIT consciously acted to increase gender diversity on campus. The Lighting the Way event began in 2006, and the President’s Commission on Women was created in 2007. More women were invited to the campus as guest speakers and lecturers, sharing their insights with the next generation of students.
As far as the university has come, campus culture is still not equally accepting of students across the gender spectrum. In recent years, RIT has faced rising cases of stalking, partner violence and sexual assault, which have made women feel less safe on campus. The university has stressed its commitment to making women feel welcome on campus going forward.
“One of the values of RIT is that it is a community,” Decker said. “I believe what we’re doing at RIT is very much in supporting the aspirations of everyone in the RIT community, to close that gap between what they want to do and what they can do.”
