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Key insights from
Women in White Coats
By
Olivia Campbell
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What you’ll learn
Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Garrett Anderson,
and Sophia Jex-Blake blazed a trail for women in the medical world. They
broke down barriers and paved the way for future generations of women to
become doctors. The road to a medical degree was full of obstacles and
constant antagonization by many of the male students in medical schools, as
well as practicing male physicians. Elizabeth, Lizzie, and Sophia fought
for entry into universities and hospitals to obtain their medical degrees.
In the Victorian era of the 1800s, women were expected to be nurses, not
doctors. These three women, along with several others in the latter half of
the century, made it possible for women to become doctors and be taken
seriously in the medical field.
Read on for key insights from Women in White Coats.
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1. Agnodice is the
first historical account of a female practicing medicine in ancient Greece,
but she had to do so disguised as a man.
The history of women in the medical field can be traced as
far back as ancient Greece. In the fourth century BC, a woman named
Agnodice became a doctor to treat the women of Athens who were afraid to
seek treatment from a male physician. Most of these women were dying from
treatable diseases. Agnodice began offering medical care to these women but
disguised herself as a man since female doctors were not permitted in
ancient Greece. When word got out that Agnodice was a woman, male doctors
banded together to prosecute her in court. However, the women of Athens
came to her defense. Historians have debated whether Agnodice actually
existed. Ancient Greece had no law banning women from practicing medicine.
However, many scholars say she was a real person, and she was most likely
persecuted regardless of the laws of the day.
While women could not yet be doctors, they were accepted as
village healers in many parts of Europe. In medieval France, nuns were
recognized as medical practitioners. Nuns would help injured soldiers and
sick villagers. Unfortunately for women who held a desire to practice
medicine, things began to change. “When medicine began to be solidified as
a profession during the thirteenth century—its practice now requiring
university training and licensure—patriarchal control swept in.”
Universities would not accept women looking to pursue a medical degree and
many wouldn’t accept women at all. Upon the urging of practicing male
physicians, King Henry V and the British Parliament made it illegal in 1421
for women to practice medicine in England. The Catholic and Lutheran
churches controlled most of the university medical schools between the
1400s and the 1700s. During this time, the Church accused more than 100,000
women, including nuns, of being witches or sorceresses. The belief was that
these “wise” women were a danger and if they could heal a sick person, they
must be doing the devil’s work. These accusations resulted in over 100,000
women being burned at the stake.
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2. After being
rejected by 29 medical schools, Elizabeth Blackwell was finally accepted to
Geneva Medical College in 1847.
In the Victorian age, most universities educated women to
become teachers. However, after a friend commented to Elizabeth Blackwell
that she felt her medical care would have been better had her doctor been a
woman and not a “rough unfeeling man,” Elizabeth realized that she wanted
to be a doctor. Female applicants were not accepted into medical school,
even though the number of medical schools doubled between 1830 and 1845.
Elizabeth wanted to take the same path as that of a male doctor and receive
a degree from a legitimate medical school. Elizabeth worked as a teacher to
save money for medical school, knowing she would be faced with many
rejections. While teaching in Asheville, North Carolina, she appealed to
the principal, Reverend John Dickson. Dickson had previously worked as a
doctor and had an extensive medical library. He admired Elizabeth’s
interest in medicine and allowed her access to his library, in which she
studied during her downtime.
Once Elizabeth saved enough money, she began applying to
medical schools. She wrote a letter to Dr. Joseph Warrington, a physician
in Philadelphia, which was the site of four prominent medical schools. None
of them accepted women. Dr. Warrington asked Elizabeth to come to
Philadelphia, hoping to convince her to train as a nurse. However, the more
time he spent with Elizabeth, the more he believed that she should continue
her chosen path. He allowed her access to his medical library and
encouraged her to accompany him on his patient visits. She began an anatomy
class at a private school and discovered she was at ease around bodily
fluids and functions. The more Elizabeth learned, the more determined she
became.
Elizabeth faced an onslaught of medical school rejections.
Out of the 29 schools she applied to, none would allow a woman to attend
despite her qualifications. Dr. Warrington even encouraged Elizabeth to
disguise herself as a man to obtain her degree (he wasn’t the first to
suggest this) but Elizabeth was determined to earn her degree legitimately
to “make a statement about the capabilities of women.” Elizabeth was
unaware that Dr. Warrington had written a letter to the professors at
Geneva Medical College in New York state asking them to allow Elizabeth to
attend. The professors put it up to a vote among the students so as not to
offend Dr. Warrington. The students assumed it was a joke and voted to
admit her to the college. While Elizabeth was met mostly with a calm
acceptance, some of her male classmates did not approve of a woman learning
alongside them. Elizabeth took any protests from her fellow students in
stride, never letting their objections knock her off course. She graduated
top of her class on Tuesday, January 23, 1849.
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3. Elizabeth
Blackwell’s inspiration extended across the Atlantic.
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Garrett Anderson was a
twenty-one-year-old from the coastal English town of Aldeburgh when she
read about Elizabeth Blackwell in the English Woman’s Journal.
Lizzie felt a purpose other than becoming a housewife and mother, which was
expected of a woman at the time. It was 10 years after Elizabeth Blackwell
had graduated from medical school and she was on a lecture tour in London.
Lizzie attended and soon became fascinated with the prospect of becoming a
doctor herself. Dr. Blackwell outlined what she believed should be the
requirements of a woman wishing to obtain a medical degree in an article
for the English Woman’s Journal entitled “Letter to Young Ladies
Desirous of Studying Medicine.” Lizzie used this as a guide to begin her
own journey toward a medical degree. It was a four-year education plan to
complete before starting medical school, and included studying medical
texts with a physician, six months as a practicing nurse, and six months in
a lab with private instruction. Once all of this was completed, the student
should enter a medical school in America, as this was the only place women
were able to earn a medical degree at the time. Two medical schools for
women had opened in America, and many colleges were becoming coed. Social reform
in the United States was moving more quickly than in England, providing
more opportunities to women seeking an education.
Lizzie met with the governor of Middlesex Hospital, William
Hawes, to request permission to work as a nurse for six months. She assumed
she would work in the women’s ward, but Hawes knew of her desire to become
a doctor and arranged for her to instead work in the surgical ward. “If she
could stomach the surgical ward, he reasoned, she most certainly could
handle becoming a physician.” The surgeries that took place in the
mid-eighteenth century were much more horrific than the surgeries that take
place today. Prior to the introduction of ether and chloroform as
anesthetics in the late 1840s, patients would have to be held down during surgical
procedures. Even if the surgery seemed successful, germs (which were only
recently discovered) caused many post-surgery deaths.
Lizzie did more than just stomach the surgeries she
witnessed—she would go on to be a surgeon herself once she completed her
medical degree. Her degree would not come as easy as Dr. Blackwell’s.
Lizzie applied to the universities in Oxford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and
Cambridge, all of which rejected her. In her final attempt, she was
admitted to the Society of the Apothecaries. The Society could provide the
license required to practice medicine once training was completed, which
included five years of apprenticeship and three years of lectures. Joshua
Plaskitt, an apothecary Lizzie worked with at Middlesex Hospital, agreed to
an apprenticeship. However, getting the required education would prove to
be an obstacle. Lizzie thrived in her environment and scored better than
her male classmates. Soon the other students began to feel threatened by
her intelligence and petitioned to have her removed from Middlesex
Hospital. In the end, Lizzie lost the battle and had to look for her
education elsewhere.
With the guidance of a friend, Dr. George Day, Lizzie gained
admittance to the University of St. Andrews on the east coast of Scotland.
She worked tirelessly to obtain all her medical schooling and training.
Finally, Lizzie passed all requirements for the apothecary licensure. She
obtained recognition as an MD from Sorbonne, in France and was placed on
the British Medical Registry. The only other woman on the registry was
Elizabeth Blackwell.
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4. Sophia
Jex-Blake traveled a different path, but it also led to a medical degree.
Sophia Jex-Blake was a women’s rights activist who worked
alongside Lizzie and Emily Blackwell, Elizabeth’s younger sister. Sophia’s
dream was to establish an all-girls school that would focus on higher
education. Lizzie and Emily urged her to obtain a degree from a university.
Sophia and her friend Isabel Bain set sail for America in May of 1865. They
wished to see the progress America had made in coeducation of men and women.
Sophia met Dr. Lucy Sewall in Boston, someone who would become an
inspiration in her quest for higher education. She became Lucy’s assistant,
and during this time, realized her own personal desire to become a doctor.
Sophia soon attempted to gain admittance to Harvard, which was denied due
to her gender. This news coupled by the death of her father back home led
Sophia to sail back to England.
Once Sophia was back home, she continued to seek higher
education. Scotland was her best option as the universities were more
enlightened than those in Britain. When she applied to the University of
Edinburgh, the professors agreed to grant her acceptance, but said they
could not accommodate “just one lady.” This prompted Sophia to find other
women to apply to the University of Edinburgh. She appealed to
acquaintances and even published an ad in The Scotsman for other
women to join her. Eventually, she had the support of six other women.
Sophia Jex-Blake, Mary Anderson, Matilda Chapman, Helen Evans, Edith
Pechey, Emily Bovell, and Isabel Thorne applied to the University of
Edinburgh and ultimately all would be accepted, making it the first
University in Britain to accept women. This group of women made history as
the Edinburgh Seven.
The Edinburgh Seven created quite a stir at the university.
Once it became evident that these seven women were more than capable, the
male students began to revolt. Sophia and her fellow female students were
harassed on a regular basis and what became known as the Surgeons’ Hall
riot ensued on November 18, 1870. An angry mob threw mud and garbage at the
women, yelled insults, and harassed them as they walked through the
streets. Because of this unrest, the medical faculty demanded that the
women no longer be allowed at the University. Unfortunately for the
Edinburgh Seven, the students and faculty won the fight, and the women
would no longer be able to pursue their degrees. Not willing to give up,
Sophia Jex-Blake eventually earned her degree from the University of Berne
in 1877.
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5. Medicine was
worlds away from where it is in modern times, especially when it comes to
female medical conditions and sanitation efforts.
Because the practicing physicians were male in the Victorian
era, most female conditions were mistreated. How could a man relate to the
symptoms a woman was feeling? In 1846, one of the first oncologists, Dr.
Walter Walshe, claimed cancer to be more prominent in women than men. One
of the reasons he felt this to be true was that “of the 9,118
cancer-related deaths in Paris between 1830 and 1840, nearly three thousand
were a result of uterine cancer.” The unfortunate truth is that cancers of
the reproductive system are often seemingly benign until they are too
advanced to be treated. Many women during the mid-18th century (and most
likely prior to this as well) did not feel comfortable being examined by a
man and would attempt to tolerate any symptoms. Cancer was thought to be a
genetic condition, and a diagnosis could mean a woman was genetically
inferior and cause her to be snubbed by society. When both Elizabeth
Blackwell and Lizzie Garrett Anderson opened their private practices, the
need for female doctors became apparent. Women felt comfortable explaining
their symptoms and receiving treatment from these doctors rather than from
a male physician.
Elizabeth Blackwell, Lizzie Garrett Anderson, and Sophia
Jex-Blake all encountered class inequities while completing their medical
training. When Elizabeth was apprenticing at Blockley Almshouse, a
charitable hospital, she observed the physical maladies of the
impoverished. Witnessing social inequities spurred Elizabeth on her journey
to becoming a doctor as she wished to help those who were suffering.
Hospitals and doctors had yet to start sanitation practices
when Elizabeth, Lizzie, and Sophia began their medical training. Women
would bring change in this realm as well. When Lizzie first began working
in the surgical ward, surgical instruments and aprons were often dirty and
caked with blood. Sanitation efforts changed drastically over the coming
decades with the help of Florence Nightingale, a British military nurse who
served in the Crimean War.
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6. The London
School of Medicine was groundbreaking in the education of women, and its
longevity as a functioning hospital.
With the help of Elizabeth Blackwell and Lizzie Garrett
Anderson, Sophia Jex-Blake finally carried out her lifelong dream of
opening a school when the London School of Medicine for Women opened on
October 12, 1874. Despite their desire to employ female doctors and
instructors, the women agreed that having male faculty would help to
establish the legitimacy of the school. The school would have both male and
female faculty and educate women in “four areas: the study of healthy
function, the study of disease, the machinery for investigation or cure,
and the art of healing.”
The London School of Medicine remained the only school
educating women in medicine in Britain until 1886. The focus of the school
was to educate women in midwifery and treatable conditions of women and
children. Over the years, the school continued to expand to accommodate the
growing number of women interested in the medical field. The school merged
with the University College Hospital Medical School in 1998, and it is
still in existence today as the Royal Free and University College London
Medical School.
The London School of Medicine was a piece of the legacies
left by Elizabeth Blackwell, Lizzie Garrett Anderson, and Sophia Jex-Blake.
They helped pave the way for future female doctors to practice medicine and
to make major contributions to the medical field. The London School of
Medicine turned out several graduates who changed the world of medicine
forever. Lucy Willis was one graduate who “discovered the protective
effects of folic acid in pregnancy in the 1920s.” Another contribution came
from alum Mary Putnam Jacobi who fought for better education for women. She
published over 120 scientific papers that proved a “woman’s vigor was
unaffected by menstrual cycles” and that women were deserving of equal
education.
The contributions made by women in the medical field are
numerous. Blood transfusions, chemotherapy, and fertility treatments are
just a few of the medical advancements made possible by women. Elizabeth
Blackwell, Lizzie Garrett Anderson, and Sophia Jex-Blake were the female
pioneers the world didn’t know it needed.
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Endnotes
These insights are
just an introduction. If you're ready to dive deeper, pick up a copy of Women in
White Coats here. And since we get a commission on
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