Women in College After the Nineteenth Century
Perry, Mark J
“Today, more than 150 years later, nearly half of medical school students nationwide are female” (Atkinson, 2009). Not only are there more female students, there are more female staff members. In 2003, there were “ten female deans of US medical schools” (AMA, pg 6). “Women now enter medical schools, are chosen for residency training, engage in clinical practice, hold professorships in teaching institutions, and receive grants for research on equal footing with men” (Lyons). Back in 1903, “Florence Sabin, MD becomes first female faculty member of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine” (AMA, pg 2). Then, in 1919, Alice Hamilton, MD, was appointed to the faculty of Harvard Medical School (AMA, pg 3). Everywhere you look, women are doing the same things men do. They are pursuing “manly” work positions like CEO, Congress woman, surgeon, and many more. Women now want to prove to men that they are capable of succeeding in the medical field. Women in medical schools were told things such as “stay home and take care of my children (many times by many people)” and “we can’t have a woman on our board because then we wouldn’t be able to smoke cigars, drink brandy and tell jokes after dinner” (Atkinson, 2009). This only pushed women to do better and make advancements in the medical field. Even years ago, Dr. Alexander pushed aside all the disapproving looks or comments and she made advancements in the medical field. Her perseverance shows other women that they can do it too; that the medical field is not just a place for men.