It is 1896 and Girton College, home to the first female university students, has just opened its doors. Its principal, Mrs. Welsh, vows to steer the students through their education ,while passionately petitioning for their right to graduate like their male contemporaries. The group of new female students all come from varying backgrounds but they are bound by their belief that a woman is not solely limited to her place in the home. Facing entrenched chauvinism from the establishment, academic rejection and violent misogynistic riots, the women continue to push for Cambridge University to treat them as equals. Through their education in, and outside, the classroom, the women strive to prove that they are equal to their male contemporaries. While following social rules and etiquette, they pull away from Victorian notions of the ‘natural woman’ and passionately pursue their academic ambitions.
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