On The Education Of Women
[Scene: Artisan Roast, a cozy, Scottish coffee shop with delicious baked goods and an inviting,
rustic feel. SOCRATES and ROSALIND FRANKLIN walk through the door and pay for cups of
coffee. They sit down in the little cave-like back room.]
ROSALIND: Socrates, you wanted to ask me about the education of women, did you not?
SOCRATES: That is correct, Miss Franklin.
ROSALIND: Alright, then. Ask away.
SOCRATES: Miss Franklin, you said that every person deserves a good education, whether
female or male. Do you believe this to be true?
ROSALIND: I do.
SOCRATES: What caused you to have this belief?
ROSALIND: Well, from a very early age I always loved to learn, and it seemed right to me that I
should receive as good an education as my brothers did.
SOCRATES: But consider this, Miss Franklin. What if a woman was applying for university, but
wasn’t intelligent enough to be accepted? Do you still believe that she should get a good
education?
ROSALIND: I do. If she is capable of learning, that is. If she is not capable of learning, then
there is no point in trying to teach her, for she will not gain anything from her lessons.
SOCRATES: But why should the university accept her if she is not capable of understanding the
classes?
ROSALIND: Like I said — if she can learn, acquire knowledge, and understand what she is
being taught, then she should be given the opportunity, same as her male peers.
SOCRATES: And what if she does not have the money to buy the books so she can acquire
knowledge?
ROSALIND: Then she can go to the library, and check out books instead. And should not
society provide funds for people who cannot afford an education?
SOCRATES: Well, I believe that people should be taught free of charge. But Miss Franklin,
what if women are a distraction to the men in the classroom?
ROSALIND: Socrates, why would a woman distract the men? They are both studying, both
trying to earn good grades and learn more. If a woman disturbed the male students she would be
sent out of the classroom, which would end her studying. If she has gone to the trouble of
applying to university, and has a natural desire to learn, why would she want to do something
that would bring about the end of her studying? And if the men are distracted from their work, it
is not the fault of the women, but of the men. In that case, the men should be the ones being told
to focus or leave the classroom.
SOCRATES: And what if women are too emotional to withstand the pressures of the academic
life?
ROSALIND: By ‘emotional’, what do you mean? Every rational, living being has emotions.
That is not a trait specific to women.
SOCRATES: I mean to say that they are too light-hearted, tender, shallow and carefree. Many
women are.
ROSALIND: Well, some women may be like that. But not every woman is going to be identical
to your stereotype. Other women will be serious, kind, eager to learn, interesting and obedient.
SOCRATES: But after those women are educated, would they not want to go to work or even
become leaders of a country? If that is true, who will tend to the children and the household? Is
not that the true and right domain of women?
ROSALIND: Take Marie Curie. Her children were raised by her, and her colleagues, but that did
not stop both Marie and her children from making important scientific discoveries, traveling, and
helping the poor and sick. A woman can have a career and still raise children.
SOCRATES: And what of her husband? Would her husband work beside her?
ROSALIND: Well, consider Nicola Sturgeon and her husband, Peter Murrel. Nicola is now the
First Minister of Scotland and the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), and her husband is
the chief executive of the SNP. In their case, the husband works beside the wife. And then again,
what if she doesn’t even have a husband?
SOCRATES: But every woman should.
ROSALIND: You are also implying that she has children. But what if she is independent,
without husband or children? I am one of these women, and I do not feel that I have any sort of
deficiency. I live perfectly well on my own.
SOCRATES: Women do choose not to marry or have children, but you are the only such woman
I have met so far.
ROSALIND: And Socrates, have you ever asked a man “Are you a distraction to women? Are
you too emotional to study properly?” I should think not.
[SOCRATES is silent.]
ROSALIND: So why do you hold back women? We are capable and intelligent. We have no
desire to disturb or distract. We are serious and eager to learn.
SOCRATES: There is a place for women in society, and there is a place for men in society. The
classroom is not the place for women, Miss Franklin. Their place is at home.
ROSALIND: Would you hold back one of your male friends, even if he was lighthearted,
unintelligent and tender?
SOCRATES: No, he is a man.
ROSALIND: But he has the same character traits that you claim make women unable to pursue
an education.
[SOCRATES is silent.]
ROSALIND: That man would be more of a disturbance in the classroom than a woman with
composure and eagerness to learn. So would all other men like him.
[SOCRATES remains silent.]
ROSALIND: And yet you would have the government pay for his education and tell the women
to go home? Or will you see that we deserve an education as much as men do? Now if you’ll
kindly excuse me, I’m off to discover the secret of life, before my competitors James Watson and
Frances Crick beat me to it!
[ROSALIND stands, tips waiter and walks out, leaving SOCRATES still silent at the table.]