Ask Mike: The first female doctor
Hey Guys,
They say that history is made by the first timers, and I’m inclined to agree. The people who don’t listen to the naysayers are the same ones who change the world. As I was browsing through Yahoo! Answers, I found a few questions on the first person to drive a car or the first man to sign the Declaration of Independence. For today’s column, I decided to tackle something similar — who was the first female medical doctor?
It’s a little odd to think about it, but there was a time, not so very long ago, that all medical doctors were men. No exceptions. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that this changed, thanks to the tireless efforts of Elizabeth Blackwell.
An awesome article from the National Institutes of Health explains that Dr. Blackwell was accepted at just one medical school, and that was actually a bit of a fluke. The administrators at Geneva Medical College in New York “did not want to risk rejecting a woman applicant, so they asked the medical students” their opinion on whether she should be accepted. The students, apparently thinking the application was just a prank perpetrated by a rival school, said, “Sure, why not?”
It was a dubious beginning and I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to know that none of your classmates think you deserve to be there. But Blackwell rose above it, taking all the same classes as her male counterparts, and even dissected male cadavers, “which was considered outrageous behavior for a woman of the Victorian era.”
After graduating at the head of her class, Blackwell found that despite her training, she could not get a job because she was a woman. So, she, along with several other women including her sister, formed their own hospital dedicated to women’s health. Later on, she not only taught in medical schools, she also trained nurses for duty in the Civil War.
Phew, I’m exhausted just thinking about everything Dr. Blackwell went through, all in an effort to share her passion and talents. What other “first timers” do you guys admire? Please leave a comment below, and feel free to include links.
Thanks for reading,
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I graduated with a degree in history last year and my concentration was late medieval, early modern European studies. There were many female doctors prior to the Black Death and in fact only women were able to become midwives.
The first female gynecological manual was arguably written by a woman, called the Trotula of Salerno 12c. There was also Hildeguard of Bingen11c and others like her who grew up in wealthy families and whose fathers allowed them to study medicine.
It was not until the Renaissance when large universities began to pop up that females were excluded from training in becoming a physician. It is for this reason, among others, that historians argue the renaissance was one of men and not women.
I want to hear about bug surgery, Mike. Tell me who did the first bug surgery ….and please make sure that your dates are accurate, or I will step on you.
Was there another more astonishing tidbet of
info about Elizabeth Blackwell, in addition to her
fault of being female?
I always have and always wll enjoy being female, but have been hindered by men , old fashioned men, who did not believe in higher ed for females and took great steps to stop it. They did not like assertive women, either. Sometimes I wondered if they liked women to leave the house at all. Good for Mrs. Blackwell.
This is what people mean, when they say somone had too really work hard in order to make it ( rich or otherwise).
We had a woman Dr. in the small town I live in around 1900, She went house to house in order to help the patients that had diptheria. She washed after and before each vist and also changed gowns at the door so as not to infect anyone new with the desease. Her male conterparts though she was crazy. Turns out she was correct.
I’m a female doctor, and I don’t think it’s a big deal. I’m also left-handed, which is more of an issue than being female when it comes to suturing, etc.
Today we understand that to be considered a doctor there is a system of formal standardized training leading to nationally recognized and official certification as a doctor. This was not always the case.
The ancient caliphs who succeeded Muhammad, the family Medici and the emperors of Rome all had physicians.
Today we make fun of herbalists, country doctors, shaman and midwives. We dismiss these historical actors as goofs who knew and did nothing useful, after:
Their techniques were THE medicine for great many people for a very long time
“Real doctors” cherry picked their techniques and solutions
They were outlawed, ostracized, beaten and killed as witches… in Ameica
It is not that no woman treated the sick and dying before Dr. Blackwell, but rather that women were methodically driven out of the practice of medicine as unqualified and disgusting and then barred from the formal training by which one might be considered qualified.
Now that we have heard about the first woman to graduate from a formal medical school in America; who was the first man to graduate from a formal medical school in America?
I’ve been a fan of Elizabeth Blackwell ever since my mother got me a book on her when I was little. Her father and mother were very active in the anti-slavery movement. After her father died, her mother had to take of 9 children so she opened a school. And their family doctor (a male obviously) encouraged Elizabeth and showed her how to apply to schools to improve her chance. No success exists in a vacuum, and she had a lot of examples and support from the men and women in her life that helped her succeed.
(and the existence of medieval midwives does not reduce her accomplishment) Thanks for writing about her!
another favorite first is Marie Curie, the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize (in physics).
Blackwell may not have been the first modern-era female doctor. Although “he” lived as a man, it is widely believed that British surgeon James Barry was really a woman named Margaret Ann Bulkley:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Barry_%28surgeon%29
English born E. Blackwell may have been the first woman to graduate in the U.S.A.
Still, there were a few contemporary female medical doctors in Europe. One of the pioneers was Dorothea Christine Erxleben (1715-1762) in Germany.
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell was not married.