YALE NEEDS WOMEN: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant. By Anne Gardiner Perkins.

Gardiner’s YALE NEEDS WOMEN is a fascinating account of the women and men who fought to allow women to attend Yale.

This book is an excellent example how change must happen at the individual, organizational and cultural levels. It also reveals that change does not always and only happen for the reasons of right and fairness but for more practical reasons such as economic or competition. All these often come into play.

As a start to our conversation:

What did you see as the major drivers to the change that led Yale to accept female students?

What were the perceived threats to Yale as a result of admitting women?

What were the unexpected issues that arose as a result of admitting women?