Graduation - yay or nay to the mortar board

jos28 · 02-11-2012 07:41PM #1

I am graduating on Monday and I have just picked up my robes from the hire place. I noticed at previous ceremonies that some women wear the head gear and some don't. I have heard all the controversy about it representing a 'capping' on a woman's education. I tried it on and it is not exactly the most comfortable thing I have worn. I am graduating as a very mature student and part of me feels I have earned the chance to wear it. It has been a long, long struggle to get here. On the other hand I don't want to look like a eejit if everyone else doesn't. Should I wear the mortar board or not ?

Larianne · 02-11-2012 07:57PM

Going by the pictures I've seen today, lots of people wear them.

Feck that, when I graduate (fingerscrossed) next June I'll be flinging that cap high up in the air.

Stench Blossoms · 02-11-2012 08:19PM

Go for it.

I wore mine. No regrets

ElleEm · 02-11-2012 08:23PM

For me, I felt like I DESERVED to wear it after all the hard work!!

I suppose it's like women who wear huge big fluffy wedding dresses, in the whole "it's the only day I'll get to wear it" thing.

KiLLeR CoUCh · 02-11-2012 08:23PM

I say yay. I wore one to my graduation last year and I only remember seeing one woman not wearing one, and that may have been because she took it off for a minute.

As far as I'm concerned I think the "cap on a woman's education" thing is a bit of an urban legend. I think the other theory that men stopped wearing them in protest of women attending college is also a fallacy.

The best explanation I've heard is that in Oxbridge type colleges the graduation ceremony is generally very mass like or religious in theme. Traditionally, men take off hats when entering the ceremony, but women would leave them on, similar as they would if they were attending mass. Eventually the wearing of caps was phased out for men. I don't know how true that is but it sounds a hell of a lot more plausible to me. I'm also going to stick with that explanation because I'm sick of my mother wringing her hands at my last graduation photo because I decided to wear the cap

Wear it and enjoy tossing it up in the air! I couldn't with mine because the dress hire people had to pin it to my head to get it to stay on

krudler · 02-11-2012 08:26PM

jos28 wrote: »

I am graduating on Monday and I have just picked up my robes from the hire place. I noticed at previous ceremonies that some women wear the head gear and some don't. I have heard all the controversy about it representing a 'capping' on a woman's education. I tried it on and it is not exactly the most comfortable thing I have worn. I am graduating as a very mature student and part of me feels I have earned the chance to wear it. It has been a long, long struggle to get here. On the other hand I don't want to look like a eejit if everyone else doesn't. Should I wear the mortar board or not ?

Whats this?

username123 · 02-11-2012 08:27PM

You wear it, it represents a cap on education, you fling it in the air, you are throwing off the old traditions and removing that cap!

I wore mine and threw it. I think the men wore them too at mine (DIT).

jos28 · 02-11-2012 08:45PM

Loving all the positivity and knowledge here ! You have made up my mind for me, I WILL wear it and to hell with the begrudgers. As ElleEm says, it's the only day I will get to wear it. Unless I do a Masters.....mmm....maybe:D

rainbow kirby · 02-11-2012 10:22PM

It was -3C outside in the middle of the day when I had my MSc graduation. I sure as hell wore it - for practical reasons!

Princess Peach · 02-11-2012 10:27PM

Don't think there was a single girl the day if my graduation not wearing one, I liked having the full outfit anyway

May be your only graduation, go for it if you want. If anyone thinks less of you, who cares!

I have a graduation next year hopefully but won't be able to travel for it so glad I enjoyed my first one.

Stheno · 02-11-2012 10:34PM

Princess Peach wrote: »

Don't think there was a single girl the day if my graduation not wearing one, I liked having the full outfit anyway

May be your only graduation, go for it if you want. If anyone thinks less of you, who cares!

I have a graduation next year hopefully but won't be able to travel for it so glad I enjoyed my first one.

I'm doing a Masters by distance, but I'm travelling to the UK for my graduation and sure as hell wearing that cap!

2.5 years of hell is going to be recognised! Even if it is a silly photo!

I'm really looking forward to it possibly as I dropped out of my undergrad degree and am doing this while working?

LeeHoffmann · 02-11-2012 11:18PM

Whats this?

basically that the cap represents the end/height of a woman´s academic achievement - she can go "this far and no further" in other words

Posy · 02-11-2012 11:20PM

Every girl at my graduation wore a cap.
I wore mine with pride when I got my degree and then my masters.

Just don't wear an 'up-do' and bring hair pins because they're feckers to keep on!

02-11-2012 11:22PM

I didn't want to wear one at all but my mum insisted

Princess Peach · 02-11-2012 11:36PM

Stheno wrote: »

I'm doing a Masters by distance, but I'm travelling to the UK for my graduation and sure as hell wearing that cap!

2.5 years of hell is going to be recognised! Even if it is a silly photo!

I'm really looking forward to it possibly as I dropped out of my undergrad degree and am doing this while working?

Its about a thousand euro return for flights to my university

Twee. · 02-11-2012 11:48PM

I think I'll wear one (in less than two weeks!!), for outfit completeness

lilmissprincess · 03-11-2012 12:29AM

Wore mine. It was ridiculously uncomfortable but loved (very carefully) flinging it in the air and have the pics (and a video) to prove it!

awec · 03-11-2012 02:26AM

This post has been deleted.

Siuin · 03-11-2012 09:29AM

I won't be wearing mine next year- I prefer updos and I'm not crazy about the reasons being put forth as to why we have them and not men (even if some of them could be fabricated)

Procrastastudy · 03-11-2012 09:45AM

Open to correction but for those interested.

When women were admitted to Trinity College for the first time the men threw away their mortar boards in disgust. Women where only allowed to attain bachelors degrees so the board became a symbol of that 'cap' and men don't wear them.

In Oxford (and probably Cambridge and other universities) students have to wear the gowns and boards into exams. You frequently see them trudging around Oxford with them on.

Pembily · 03-11-2012 10:09AM

I wore mine and as the only girl in my class I wore it with pride

They are feckers to keep on, so defo bring hair pins.

openup · 03-11-2012 11:15AM

I'm not graduating till next year year but I'm already trying to decide what to do! I don't want to be the only girl not wearing one but I don't like what it symbolizes (or has come to symbolize anyway) and I think a nice up-do might look nicer. I'm also doing my dissertation on women's emancipation so I don't know if it would feel appropriate!

The Idyl Race · 03-11-2012 11:23AM

The real story about women, mortar boards and the NUI colleges is a lot more prosaic. It has nothing to with men throwing mortar boards away in disgust at women joining, and absolutely nothing to do with a "cap" or otherwise on womens' education.

In Oxford, when women were admitted to the University, instead of a mortar board they wore a soft cap vaguely shaped like a mortar board, and mortar boards were for men only.

A Dublin company, Walter Conan Limited, became the robemaker for the NUI colleges and for reasons of cost the NUI colleges all adopted the mortar board for both men and women. This worked well until an incident in the 1950s where a woman complained of getting alopecia from a hired mortar board because of the ingrained hair oil from a man.

The NUI colleges promptly decided to avoid legal trouble that men should not wear mortar boards for NUI graduations. The same issue never arose for doctorate bonnets.

TCD had its own robemaker, a company called Armstrong and Oxford Limited, and both men and women continued to wear mortar boards.

Ziphius · 03-11-2012 12:42PM

The Idyl Race wrote: »

TCD had its own robemaker, a company called Armstrong and Oxford Limited, and both men and women continued to wear mortar boards.

Well not quite, officially both men and women graduating from DU may wear the cap if they choose but in practice only women wear it.

From TCD academic dress: http://www.tcd.ie/vpcao/administration/records-awards/academic-dress.php

"The prescribed dress for men (clergy or military excepted) is dinner jacket, white shirt, black or white bow tie. Female (clergy or military excepted) candidates wear black, or white, or a combination of both.

All candidates must wear the hood and gown of the degree they are qualified to receive; the wearing of caps is optional."

jos28 · 03-11-2012 12:44PM

Nothing wrong with the levels of knowledge in The Ladies Lounge, it's amazing to get so much information in a thread about academic headgear. Well done everyone !
Openup, I would love to read your thesis on female emancipation when it's finished.

The Big Red Button · 03-11-2012 01:56PM

Ziphius wrote: »

Well not quite, officially both men and women graduating from DU may wear the cap if they choose but in practice only women wear it.

From TCD academic dress: http://www.tcd.ie/vpcao/administration/records-awards/academic-dress.php

"The prescribed dress for men (clergy or military excepted) is dinner jacket, white shirt, black or white bow tie. Female (clergy or military excepted) candidates wear black, or white, or a combination of both.

All candidates must wear the hood and gown of the degree they are qualified to receive; the wearing of caps is optional."

I've heard about how girls graduating from Trinity had to wear black or white, made me happy that I dropped out from my course when I did. :pac:

So, eh, going by Trinity's strict rules ... technically a dude could go there for graduation wearing his dinner jacket, white shirt, bow tie ... and boxers?! :P :cool:

sunbeam · 03-11-2012 04:21PM

As far as I'm aware women students at Oxford always had the option of wearing a mortarboard. The soft hats were introduced as an option for those who found mortarboards unflattering.

I remember going through some old TCD calenders in the late 1990s and from the 1970s the academic dress regulations stated that women must wear caps, so I'm glad to see that that has been removed.

The NUI regulations never actually stated that, but up to about a decade ago mortarboards were the prescribed hat for PhD graduands, with doctoral bonnets for higher doctorates only (D.Litt, D.Sc etc). MD graduands used to wear the bonnets too, even through that wasn't a higher doctorate-I think the robe-makers probably just didn't quite know what to do with them. Similarly some graduands from the first doctorates in clinical psychology wore the higher doctorate gowns and hats. Since the regulations were revised mortarboards are optional for everyone up to masters level and bonnets are supposed to be mandatory for all PhDs and higher doctorates.

The Idyl Race · 03-11-2012 06:02PM

sunbeam wrote: »

As far as I'm aware women students at Oxford always had the option of wearing a mortarboard. The soft hats were introduced as an option for those who found mortarboards unflattering.

I remember going through some old TCD calenders in the late 1990s and from the 1970s the academic dress regulations stated that women must wear caps, so I'm glad to see that that has been removed.

The NUI regulations never actually stated that, but up to about a decade ago mortarboards were the prescribed hat for PhD graduands, with doctoral bonnets for higher doctorates only (D.Litt, D.Sc etc). MD graduands used to wear the bonnets too, even through that wasn't a higher doctorate-I think the robe-makers probably just didn't quite know what to do with them. Similarly some graduands from the first doctorates in clinical psychology wore the higher doctorate gowns and hats. Since the regulations were revised mortarboards are optional for everyone up to masters level and bonnets are supposed to be mandatory for all PhDs and higher doctorates.

Thanks for that. Is it now the case that men can wear the mortar board then? I also remember the whole issue around the PhD mortar boards with the coloured tassel depending on the discipline - one unfortunate helper (not me thankfully) made audible reference to a "full doctorate" and was corrected fairly sharpish.

sunbeam · 03-11-2012 06:19PM

I know there were a couple of guys in my BA class in the nineties who were very disappointed to be told they could not wear mortarboards, but I saw one man wearing a mortarboard to a graduation at NUI Galway about seven or eight years ago after the regulations were updated. I think it's now a case of most guys just assuming that they are for women only as that's all they have ever seen.

I forgot to mention the Oxford ladies soft cap was considered more practical by many women as you could fit a bun of hair within it, in the era when up-dos were the norm.

Ziphius · 03-11-2012 08:35PM

chatterpillar wrote: »

I've heard about how girls graduating from Trinity had to wear black or white, made me happy that I dropped out from my course when I did. :pac:

So, eh, going by Trinity's strict rules ... technically a dude could go there for graduation wearing his dinner jacket, white shirt, bow tie ... and boxers?! :P :cool:

Still do! Both men and women must wear black or white (with military and clergy excepted) during commencements. The dress code is black-tie despite the majority of the ceremonies taking place in the morning. Crazy old Trinity, eh?

I always thought the term dinner jacket implied a full dinner suit but perhaps not, maybe there is no obligation to wear any trousers :P

cdaly_ · 03-11-2012 08:42PM

Ziphius wrote: »

I always thought the term dinner jacket implied a full dinner suit but perhaps not, maybe there is no obligation to wear any trousers :P

I'm pretty sure dinner jacket, tie etc is perfectly acceptable over a kilt...

Graduation - yay or nay to the mortar board

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