Margaret Swan Cheney was born in the Cheney Homestead in 1855, the daughter of Seth Cheney and Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney. She was a remarkable woman from childhood through her time at MIT, working tirelessly for women’s rights. The Margaret Cheney Room was founded by MIT in 1884 in recognition of the importance of providing a space dedicated to women’s needs, especially in the context of the STEM fields. In light of its founding mission, the Cheney Room exists to promote community and empower all students at MIT who experience gender-based systems of oppression as it relates to being a woman or being coded as a woman. This includes (but is not limited to) self-identified women, transgender women, non-binary women as well as gender diverse individuals who relate to the purpose of the Margaret Cheney Room.
