The Early Days

Victorian women were often assumed to be in poor health—frailer both physically and mentally than their male counterparts. In the late 1800s, the increasing presence of women on college campuses raised particular concerns about the effect such a new environment would have on women's health. Women who left the protective sphere of home to earn an education were thought to be particularly susceptible to the dangers of overexertion and strain.

Women had been officially admitted to the University of Wisconsin in 1863 (though relegated to the periphery of the Normal School), and immediately the issue of their physical health was addressed by the Board of Regents. In their report for that year, they declared, "A gymnasium will be fitted up in the South Building, where ladies will be trained in Lewis' new system of gymnastics."¹ In their 1872 report, the Regents mentioned establishing a room in Ladies' Hall, for the practice of gymnastics accompanied by music. There is no evidence that either of these suggestions was ever acted upon.

The newly accepted coeds, for their part, very quickly indicated an interest in physical fitness. In 1874, the first year women were admitted to the university proper, they petitioned the faculty for use of the men's gymnasium; permission was granted, for two 60-minute sessions per week. University Press applauded the women for taking the initiative: "we glory in the heroism and pluck of our sister students and assure them that if they will persevere in spite of such trifles as broken ribs and smashed noses there is no reason why they cannot become celebrated athletes."²

By 1875, the Board of Visitors recommended daily use of the new "Health Lift," an exercise machine in Ladies' Hall.³ They must not have felt their recommendation was taken seriously, however, for the following year their report on the women's health was ominous indeed. Women suffered from a double burden, the Visitors explained—an inherently weaker constitution, coupled with terrible strain induced by working extra hard to keep up with the male students academically. These strains culminated in "bloodlessness, followed by a train of evils which it is not necessary here to enumerate."⁴ This condition, the report continued, showed itself in "the sallow features, the pearly whiteness of the eye, the lack of color, the want of physical developments in the majority, and an absolute expression of anaemia [sic] in very many of the women students."⁵