Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Richard Ovenden.
And as botanist, librarian, it's my enormous pleasure to welcome you today to this conference to mark the century nury of degrees for Women at Oxford.
It's a particular pleasure for me as bodies librarian to be involved in this important commemoration, because the Bodleian,
as the university's memory bank, if you like, sees it as our mission to document to preserve key aspects of Oxford's history,
the place of women in our society and in the university itself,
and the historic struggle for equal rights is surely one of the most important and key aspects of modern society.
And Oxford's history in that movement is of particular importance and interest and worthy itself of commemoration.
Back in 2018, we were very pleased to be able to mount an exhibition called From Suffrage to Suffrage to mark the centenary of equal votes for women.
And it's of particular pleasure, therefore, to be able to continue that work to mark this historic moment in the university's own history.
It's also a great pleasure to be able to speak at the heart at the start of this conference
where we have so many parts of the university contributing to this commemoration.
We have speakers from the libraries, from our academic departments, from faculties,
from Oxford's colleges, especially from the women's colleges and from Oxford University Press.
Well, though it's happening in a centenary year, the focus is not on the degrease themselves,
but of the breadth of the experience of women at our university.
And it's not history and its richness in its ups and downs,
the highlights and the lowlights that will feature throughout this very important conference.
It's therefore my pleasure to pass on to the chair of the first session,
Professor Rosemary Mitchell, professor emerita of Victorian studies at Leeds Trinity University.
I hope you enjoy the conference. Thank you very much.