Constance was very aware of the position of women in Victorian society and the public reaction to women entering higher education. Reflecting upon this time in her life, Constance explains how she and other female pioneers handled negative attention:
‘We were determined to preserve sweet & genuine womanliness amid all our experiences, to be unobtrusive in dress, and scrupulously modest & polite in manner, & looking back I think it was all rather wonderful that a dozen energetic lively creatures should, without the least external guidance, have been so thoroughly aware that the whole of this vast experiment depended on their corporate conduct.’
Gallery: Constance Maynard