Women have been Rhodes Scholars since 1977. They are selected worldwide from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, the Commonwealth Caribbean and Jamaica, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, the United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Almost 1,000 women have now taken up the scholarship. The credential it represents—its validation of academic attainment and leadership capacity, and the legacy established by the prominence of earlier Rhodes Scholars—makes it a potent passport for career success.
How have women Rhodes Scholars made use of that passport? A considerable literature has developed about the career choices and life paths of women generally, and of high-attaining women in particular. Do Rhodes Scholar women follow the patterns of others? Or does the power of the Rhodes “brand” allow them to achieve more? Do they have more fulfilling lives? What has been the collective experience of this group of women—by definition unusual—and more importantly, what can it tell us about society more broadly? The Rhodes Project has sought to answer these questions.
The Rhodes Project is made possible through the support of McAllister Olivarius, an international law firm headquartered in London.