History of Sexuality Women who worked in skilled level positions such as practicing physicians were

Practitioners with a lack of formal education did medical care in the 17th century. Many women and laypeople in that time had lots of expertise in herbal medicines and folk antidotes to cure colonists. The first curer people would turn to if they were sick would be a neighbor or a family member. However, there was a new type of physician in the 18th century. This was usually a young man from a wealthy family who went to an elite university who didn 't see himself as a doctor, but more as a scientist. The new physicians learned anatomy through dissection, assisted researchers, and helped with medical experiments. They also observed surgical procedures, and sat through lectures about new advances in the department of medical science. Alongside the scientists, there were also surgeons. The military was where many surgeons

Changes in the late 1800's resulted in universities admitting women, thus allowing them to explore many more educational opportunities. These factors together provided the impetus for establishment of hospitals and schools to formally train nurses, with many schools opening for the first time in the 1870s. At the same time, though the need for nurses had been established and the importance of their role within the realm of medical care recognized, there was a great deal of opposition to the proposal that nurses should be formally educated. This attitude was epitomized by a well-known article of the time published in 1908, 'The over-trained nurse' in which the author asserted that nursing was not a “profession” but merely an “honorable calling”. Consistent with this notion, public perception viewed nursing as a job that women were generally suited to perform rather than one which required special skill and was even equated with a religious “calling”. This view, influenced by early nursing's relationship with religious orders remained far into the 20th century.(Lasseter, 1999).

Not only are women deliberately kept out of joining medical schools and medical practices in general, their bodies are also not typically studied in medical science and research, because instead, male bodies are more often used. This makes the male body seem dominantly normative and generalizes an idea that women’s bodies must be similar to men’s, and dangerously disregards women’s particular differences. This causes medical professionals to make decisions based on this research that may not be particularly appropriate for women, such as the fact that aspirin reduces the rate of heart attacks for men but not for women, much to many doctors’ surprise. Gender stereotypes also exist within the medical field that may prevent women from receiving the care and attention they need, as many doctors often assume women are emotional, and thus, exaggerating their symptoms, versus men who are believed to be more rational. This also affects the amount of care they receive, which sometimes is too much or too little because some procedures like cesarean sections and hysterectomies are performed too often when other options would be just as adequate, but unfortunately, women’s reproductive systems are more emphasized than other just as important aspects of their health. In other instances, they do not receive as much diagnosis or are not taken as seriously as men are, by their doctors. According to our earlier readings, men are more often to interrupt women, so men physicians can often

The logic and principles of medieval medicine shaped those of Modern medicine. Never was there a more efficient method perfected, so much that it remained through history through so many hundreds of years. Today’s concepts of diagnosis, relationships with the church, anatomy, surgery, hospitals and training, and public health were established in the Middle Ages.

However, when her career as a nurse started, it was not in the maternity ward. It started in general care, where she witnessed first-hand the disparity in care between male and female patients.

At this time there was no physician-patient relationship, this being due to the fact that physicians were there to treat the body and the general view was that patients were unable to provide accurate evidence without “feelings and emotions” getting in the way. This Era at the bottom line was about facts, evidence and physical direct ailments. The nursing profession was just starting to be developed in this Era. The “nurses” of this time were family members, nuns, priests, neighbors who were all untrained. The start of some of the founding nurses were seen such as Florence Nightingale. She started to look at sanitary conditions and nutrition, some might say she was the original nurse. Her contribution the start of nursing is very significant. She trained some of the first nurses during the Crimean War and with her training she was able to statistically show how sanitary conditions, cleanliness and nutrition were able to significantly decrease the death rate of Crimean soldiers. In Era I physicians really only took care of one part of the “human”, because as humans we are a composition of the physical, mental and soul. Those three parts are what give us humanity and higher thinking. So Era I does not create a fully encompassing view of medicine.

Second women in medicine until the 19th century women were excluded from almost all professional medicine. Yet they provided almost all medical care. Ordinary people could not afford qualified doctors, treatment and care were provided by the woman of the house, or by a local woman skilled in the art of healing. In prehistoric, hunter-gatherer societies, women could not hunt if they were bearing or caring for children, so they collected plants and grubs. It is probable that the women had greater knowledge of the healing powers of herbs, although evidence is slight. Mothers passed down their knowledge to their daughters. In Western Europe, especially skilled healers were highly respected as ‘cunning’ wise women. Sometimes their herbal knowledge was confused with witchcraft. As most people were illiterate, there are very few records of women 's huge contribution to medicine. The surviving records were written by men, and concentrate on the all-male medical profession. In the 19th century there was a dramatic change in the status of women. Until this time, men controlled all ‘civilized’ societies. In Christian countries men used arguments from the Bible to justify women 's inferior status. Women were expected to be housewives and mothers, and were deliberately excluded from almost all other types of work. For example, by the 17th century, even professional midwives were male. In 19th-century Europe, women began to enter the male-dominated world. In

I unfortunately didn’t have enough time to of course to completely solidify my findings. But one thing that is for sure is that the Healthcare field grew in a short amount of time, there was so much intelligence back then that we only think of bone saw but in reality they had things that seemed to defy what should have been normal at the time, and this of course is just a start of my findings. For the research part on woman I found that surprisingly Florence Nightingale wasn’t technically the first Nurse. There had been a pioneer in England that you’ll find in one of my sources listed in the bibliography that isn’t necessarily relevant to make the point. Next I found that woman seemed to pioneer it as a means for a platform to build in a way the woman’s right moment and just because they wanted to help out. Especially when wars broke out there had been fewer men at home and more men in the Homefront. In total I believe that this topic could swing to a different topic in multiple ways such as Healthcare through the ages, the war, how men became nurses, the process of nursing school back then, and as you can see this also goes on. My one un-answered question is how they cured someone back then. There’s mostly home cures but no solid book from a professional that could tell me what exactly they did back then. Overall I believe I’ve covered this

Prior to 18th century Europe there were a few effective medical developments but most treatments lacked medical value. An idea developed by the ancient Greeks and Romans insisted that bloodletting was a fantastic remedy to difficult diseases but it did more harm than good (Doc 4). Another flaw in medicine is the level of hygiene in the institutions that provided care. The sick were crammed into dirty hospitals, dead lay beside those clinging to life, and the air was

In the 1800’s women were not allowed to voice their opinion regarding their medical treatment. It was unheard of for a women to voice her opinion or go against her husband judgement. If a women did speak out they were deemed crazy and often institutionalized. During this time men were the dominant forces and a husband, father ,or brother could have a

Doctors, scientists, and the general public had many concerns with all of the advancements in medicine during

“changing face of medicine.” She also wrote many informing publications such as, The Scientific Method In Biology, and the, Human Element in Sex. All that she had accomplished created a new chapter in medical history where women become apart of the healthcare professions.

Elizabeth Blackwell was an inspiring, dedicated, hard-working woman. Because of her willingness to never give up and pursue her dream to become a doctor, she was an important role model in many young girl’s lives. According to Elizabeth Flexner in her book, Century of Struggle: the Women's Rights Movement in the United States, “once fairly launched on her endeavor, the challenge of overcoming the tremendous obstacles in her path outweighed all other considerations: ‘The idea of winning a doctor’s degree gradually assumed the aspect of a great moral struggle, and the moral fight possessed immense attraction for me’” (Flexner 110). With this, Elizabeth became the world’s first female doctor.

That change came as a suggestion from the lips of a woman dying of cancer. Mary Donaldson, a long-time friend of Elizabeth Blackwell, suggested that a female doctor would have eased her pain and torment during her battle with cancer. Elizabeth took this suggestion to heart, and actively began a rebellion against unjust societal prejudices. The challenges of her new task fascinated her, as did the eventual opportunities of the medical field to escape societies sexual restrictions. With a single-minded determinedness, she clamped down on her dislike of ugly things to study medicine to improve the conditions for women in the future. In order to achieve this

Mary Donaldson – the woman that ignited the fire, for her honest opinion for Elizabeth Blackwell to study was what resulted in Blackwell to be the first female to graduate with an M.D. Donaldson, diagnosed with cancer, had the impression that examinations and treatments performed by a female doctor were less troublesome in comparison to appointments done by a male doctor. Although suggested, Blackwell, who had a fervor for studying, confronted the animosity from society, included that women who studied medicine were deceitful and nefarious. Despite the unsettling stereotypes, Blackwell was still accepted into The Geneva Medical College, a school that did not wave Blackwell a crude goodbye only because the faculty presumed Blackwell’s application