Edna McDonald was a graduate of the Class of 1919, and in her oral history, she summed up the opportunities for her and her classmates: “Let’s be frank,” she said. “What choices did women have? Teaching. You could teach. You could be a lab technician. Or you could go into office work and be a secretary.
Those were the only real choices.” Margery Chittenden Leonard graduated from Pembroke in 1929 and went on to earn a J.D. as the only woman in her class at Boston University--after two others withdrew. And with that law degree, her first job was as a secretary, and she continued to struggle to find work as a lawyer.