It was the 1953/54 session of the Phil that first welcomed in long overdue gender equality advances: Women were at last allowed to attend public business meetings and then also to speak at them (provided though Standing Orders were suspended!). What is more, at the end of that session, membership was actually even opened up to them. Sadly though, this final breakthrough proved short-lived as the College Board after a gap of only one term – and although it had no direct constitutional jurisdiction here – in early 1955 voted down female membership for that year pending possible reorganisation of the Major Societies. It was an understandable decision perhaps from the Board's point of view except that even more sadly such restructuring was never led by them as announced or indeed subsequently. While reorganisations and possible mergers between the Phil and the Hist and the Phil and the Eliz and the Phil and the SRC (Student Representative Council) + the Eliz surfaced variously at periodic intervals actual plans ‘with legs’ never seemed to result. Divisions and maybe feelings of self-interest within and between the different factions, the continuing unwillingness/inability of the College for some reason to meaningfully grapple with this process and, what is more, effectively address the issue of student union type facilities that were commonplace in other institutions of higher education all seemingly presented insurmountable hurdles.