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Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Richard Ovenden.

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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.

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It's a particular pleasure for me as bodies librarian to be involved in this important commemoration, because the Bodleian,

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as the university's memory bank, if you like, sees it as our mission to document to preserve key aspects of Oxford's history,

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the place of women in our society and in the university itself,

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and the historic struggle for equal rights is surely one of the most important and key aspects of modern society.

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And Oxford's history in that movement is of particular importance and interest and worthy itself of commemoration.

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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.

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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.

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It's also a great pleasure to be able to speak at the heart at the start of this conference

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where we have so many parts of the university contributing to this commemoration.

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We have speakers from the libraries, from our academic departments, from faculties,

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from Oxford's colleges, especially from the women's colleges and from Oxford University Press.

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Well, though it's happening in a centenary year, the focus is not on the degrease themselves,

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but of the breadth of the experience of women at our university.

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And it's not history and its richness in its ups and downs,

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the highlights and the lowlights that will feature throughout this very important conference.

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It's therefore my pleasure to pass on to the chair of the first session,

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Professor Rosemary Mitchell, professor emerita of Victorian studies at Leeds Trinity University.

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I hope you enjoy the conference. Thank you very much.