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When was a degree not a degree? When it was “awarded” to women at Cambridge
before they were granted equal standing with men. Cambridge Women edited by
Edward Shils and Carmen Blacker (Cambridge University Press,
£10.95/$18.95, ISBN 0 521 48344 1) is a record of almost saintly
scholarship and sacrifice in a climate where a male colleague could say there
was “nothing useful to be made of women’s intellect”, or that “natural
diligence” made women good at exams but ill-equipped to go further.