Students brand new Cambridge University Society of Women ‘embarrassing’ and ‘TERF-aligned’

Three University of Cambridge students have launched a society in protest against university culture which they claim to be “obsessed with gender ideology.”

The newly established group, the Cambridge University Society of Women (CUSW), was launched last month and brands itself as “Encouraging women to speak freely since 2025.”

Exclusive of trans women, the society has since been called “TERFs” by other members of the community, who call its creation “embarrassing.”

Founding members Serena Worley, Maeve Halligan and Thea Sewell, say the society was created due to what they view as a dominance of transgender issues in Cambridge’s student culture. A spokesperson for the society also claimed that the backlash “is not representative of wider society” and “won’t deter us from continuing to offer women at the university a women-only space where they can speak and associate freely and safely.”

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Maeve has been quoted as saying that “university culture is obsessed with gender ideology”, pointing to pronoun badges, rainbow flags, and a “constant stream of gender-related materials”.

In their launch statement, the founders wrote: “As the only openly and proudly single-sex society for women at the university, our mission is to facilitate women speaking freely in an all-female environment. We will be campaigning and fundraising to help women’s sex-based causes.”

CUSW is attempting registration from the university itself, via the Proctors’ Office .

Serena, who previously studied journalism at the University of Oregon, described an experience being made to live in a room with a trans woman that “changed her understanding” of trans politics and prompted her to help establish the new society.

Thea told the outlet that after showing a friend her book collection, which included a work by gender-critical academic Kathleen Stock, the friend alerted “the biggest trans-rights activists in [her] college,” after which “‘TERF’ was scratched into my door”. She says she has since experienced social ostracism.

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The group’s constitution defines women as “adult human beings belonging to the female sex class” and declares an intent to “challenge the predominant narratives surrounding sex and gender at our university.”

The founders claim their mission is to preserve all-female spaces rather than to “oppose trans people”, asserting the need for “freedom of association and sex-based discussion.”

CUSW’s emergence has already prompted strong responses across Cambridge. The Cambridge University Labour Club (CULC) called the group “the latest assault on the trans community at Cambridge” and accused it of “promoting transphobic rhetoric under the guise of free speech.”

Other student groups, including Gender Agenda – Cambridge’s Feminist Collective, released statements reaffirming that “trans women are women” and rejecting the new society’s definition of womanhood. One statement read: “Feminism without intersectionality is not effective, considerate, or productive.”

Numerous societies also issued a joint statement in support of the trans community after its creation.

Comments on the societies Instagram posts read: “A safe space for women should always include trans women” and “Establishing hate speech against a group of people who are already marginalised is not acceptable. This is disgusting.”

One comment in support of the society read: “Very proud of you all. Many women stand with you.”

The launch of CUSW fits into ongoing disputes at Cambridge about single-sex spaces and trans inclusion. Earlier this year, Newnham College reaffirmed that it admits all applicants who identify as women, despite some calls to restrict entry by biological sex.

Cambridge SU, the students’ union, has also taken public stances on sex-and-gender policy. Following the Supreme Court ruling defining “woman” in biological terms under the Equality Act 2010, the SU declared that “trans, non-binary and gender-non-conforming people’s identities are valid irrespective of any court ruling.”

Despite the backlash, the society shared how it had already received “over 20 student membership applications” and over 60 “alumna applications.”

Maeve told GB News: “We’ll generate support and be able to do what we actually want to do, which is get young women back on track in this country.”

Co-founder Worley told Varsity that while CUSW plans some mixed events open to all genders, “fundamentally”, trans women would not be eligible for membership.

A spokesperson for CUSW told The Cambridge Tab: “The Society of Women is Cambridge University’s only single-sex society. We are non-partisan, and, with a rapidly growing membership, we are really excited to begin running events where promotion of free speech is a central aim.

“Women deserve to exercise their right to single-sex spaces, in part because we know that women self-censor in or even self-exclude from mixed sex environments. The society will have speaker events, socials, a book club and more. We are also going to be working with local charities within campaigns promoting women’s sex-based rights and combatting their sex-based oppression.

“The student backlash within the university is not representative of wider society. It won’t deter us from continuing to offer women at the university a women-only space where they can speak and associate freely and safely.”

University of Cambridge and Cambridge SU  were contacted for comment. 

Featured image via Instagram @cusocietyofwomen