Living History: Catherine Aiken

My defining moment at Trinity

Twenty years after my own time in the First and Third Trinity Boat Club, I unexpectedly found myself its Senior Treasurer, and the past landed back on my desk. A group of alumnae, slightly older than my contemporaries, had written to ask what the Boat Club was going to do to ensure that no current female student would experience the harmful situations they had faced.

I hadn’t really thought about being in the boat club for years, but I knew exactly what they were talking about. Then, we were significantly outnumbered by men, our equipment was much older, and casual lack of respect from male rowers was commonplace: we were ‘the girls’ and jokes abounded about our ‘assisted drifting’. It didn’t occur to us to mind and it didn’t seem to matter – except when it did. At least two serious sexual assaults were widely discussed, but no-one considered reporting them.

That letter from alumnae was difficult to read and I found responding challenging. But the current student committee, of men and women, intuitively grasped the relevance of their predecessors’ experience for students today. The Club began regular workshops on mutual respect, inclusivity, and continuing consent with the Good Lad initiative and organised club-wide dinners to promote socialising that includes everyone. We now spend equitably on equipment and coaching for every rower.

I’m glad those women wrote. Their lived experiences are part of our history at Trinity. Acknowledging and recording those is an important safeguard for the future. Our challenge is to live up to the legacy of pioneering women at Trinity and ensure that we have a boat club where there are no outsiders.

Catherine Aiken was elected a Fellow of Trinity in 2016. She is a University Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Maternal and Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Catherine is Senior Treasurer of First and Third Trinity Boat Club.