Women in Medicine Before the Nineteenth Century
Coffey
Even before Dr. Alexander became the first licensed female in the south to practice medicine, women were involved in medicine. However, medicine was not a subject that seemed fit for women especially because of the sexual matters included in medicine. Even still, “women had been highly regarded as comforting healers for a long, long time; there probably were female practitioners in ancient Sumeria, Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and in Pre-Columbian America” (Lyons). During the Middle-Ages, women were midwives. A midwife tends to women who are pregnant and helps throughout the pregnancy. There were women who secretly and sometimes openly practiced medicine; however, these women were related to lower-order wound surgeons. During this time period, women also tended to the sick. Even though women did these things, they were still not accepted by society as practitioners in medicine. “During most of the world’s history licensure was not required, so it was principally public acceptance that would enable someone to perform medical functions regularly” (Lyons). It was not until the fourteenth century that examinations were required for people to practice medicine. This made it possible for women to become involved in the practice of medicine. This was a long and slow process for women to be involved in medicine. It was in the practice of midwifery that women were widely accepted into medicine.
One woman tried to make a difference in the field of midwifery, Mme Boursier; she served Marie de Medicis, the second wife of Henry IV. She “may have been the first midwife to publish a scientific book on her specialty” (Lyons).
One woman tried to make a difference in the field of midwifery, Mme Boursier; she served Marie de Medicis, the second wife of Henry IV. She “may have been the first midwife to publish a scientific book on her specialty” (Lyons).
King
Another woman who tried to help change the field for the better was Elizabeth Cellier. She studied abortions, and deaths of children, and found that a large number of this was due to lack of knowledge of the midwife. “She persuaded James II to agree to a special hospital for women, but her outspoken criticisms of many people (including the king himself) landed her in the pillory and her books on the bonfire” (Lyons). Most other books about midwifery were written by men even though they were not the preferred gender in the field of midwifery. Women solely involved in midwifery were not always the case.
2009
Some women practiced in secret, and some disguised themselves as men. Dr. James Barry (1797-1865), a medical officer in the British army, was a surgeon for fifty years. “Of slight stature, squeaky voice, and beardless face, Barry evidently aroused no suspicion—possibly because of an aggressive manner and a reputation as an accurate marksman. When the autopsy revealed that Barry was a woman, the war department and the medical association were so embarrassed that the findings were hidden and Dr. Barry was officially buried as a man” (Lyons).
Women all over the world struggled just like Annie Alexander in the field of medicine. Just like Annie, other women were faced with the challenge of not being accepted by society. “The Montgomery County Medical Society of Pennsylvania may have been the first local group to admit a woman, but it was not until well into the twentieth century that other societies followed suit. In 1915 women were given full membership in the American Medical Association, the same year the Medical Women's National Association was formed” (Lyons). At the age of seventeen, Annie attended the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia and graduated in 1885 (Riggins). This may not have been possible if Pennsylvania had not started allowing women into their medical societies and their medical field.