As I rode in my cab home on Thursday night with my three roommates, I listened to two Notre Dame women bad mouth Saint Mary’s from the minute the cab driver turned onto The Avenue.
“Is this even a real school?”
“It can’t be, they only have like, one building or something.”
“Oh my gosh, it’s so cute though. It’s like they’re trying to be real.”
As I listened, and tried my best to temper my immediate anger, I couldn’t help but wonder what it was about Saint Mary’s that threatened them so much that they felt the need to tear it down. What about Saint Mary’s made these women feel so insecure and so uncomfortable that they decided to hurl insults at the place I call home?
To be honest, I’ve never found an answer to that question. Personally, I don’t see a reason for competition with the University across the street. The antiquated idea that we are competing for men seems inadequate. To say that there is a fundamental difference between the two female populations is false – at both schools, a diverse range of women pursue their educations in a way that fits them best. At both schools, women explore their strengths, learn their weaknesses, and strive to find their place in the larger world that we all join post-graduation.
Why, then, is there such a division? Why do women on both campuses feel the need to attack each other? As women in a world where feminist is still a dirty word and some men still try to dictate our places, our bodies, and our lives, we should seek to support and empower each other, push each other to greater and higher achievements than any of us felt possible, and celebrate all our places in the world as a whole. Women have so many other difficulties to face – we should not create additional difficulties for each other. We should not create false division where there was previously none. We should, instead, nurture our dreams and sing our praises, not tear down groups of women different (but really, not so different) from ourselves.
My article is not the first to be written on the topic, but I hope it will be the last. I know not all women from Notre Dame harbor this resentment, but a surprising many I have met do. So I call all Saint Mary’s women to ask this question:
Why?
No one I have met has ever been able to give a reasonable, legitimate answer to that question. So, Saint Mary’s women, ask them why and to confront their unfounded bigotry head on. And more than that, ask them to find any reason to have that bigotry. Be the models of female support and community, the models of intelligence and ability, the models of class and grace. Saint Mary’s women have so much to offer the world – as do Notre Dame women – and just think what we could accomplish if we stopped wasting our time fighting amongst ourselves about petty divisions and starting working together to change the world.
Photos provided by the author
Be sure to follow HCSMC on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest!
Interested in writing for or being apart of HCSMC?
E-mail hannahdrinkall@hercampus.com or thereseburke@hercampus.com for inquiries!