Women In Health History Research Paper

College was an exception rather than a rule for women in the 1870s, but John Addams approved of higher education for women, and Jane wanted to go. In 1877, seventeen years old, Jane boarded a train at Cedarville station, and set off for Rockford Seminary, a “female college” in Rockford, Illinois. Like the twenty-two other women in her freshman class, Addams felt singled out for special opportunity, and she was determined to make the most of it. A few years later, after organizing a chess club, a debating society, an amateur theatrical group and editing/writing for the Rockford Seminary Magazine, Jane graduated and returned home to Cedarville. Jane Addams intended to carry out her plan of attending the Women’s Medical College in the fall of 1881 largely because she had to her father she would. Jane soon realized that medical school was not for her as she found she was incapable of concentrating on her classes, an “utter failure” and “unable to work at the best of myself.” In February of 1882, she dropped out and entered a hospital, suffering from severe back pain as well as depression. That April, Jane underwent an operation to straighten her spine caused by an earlier childhood diagnosis, tuberculosis of the spine.

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

During the 1930s women is not treated equal with men and they are very different with each other. The amount of women actually getting jobs are less likely to men getting jobs. Fashion is also very different, women are in plain dresses while men are in blue denim jackets. Women during the Great Depression are actually depressed because they can not get jobs and their wages are half as as much as men. Men gets good jobs and amazing wages but at least both still got their fashion.

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

One women that beat the odds, and did what no woman has done before was Elizabeth Blackwell.  “She was the first woman in the United States to receive a medical degree and she helped to break down prejudice against women in medicine” (Blackwell, Elizabeth). Elizabeth was born on February 3, 1821,

Topic and Questions: What is the author 's topic and what questions does she attempt to answer? That is describe, who, what, when, and where. The author should explain her topic and questions in the first few pages of her article (Limit 200 words).

Elizabeth Blackwell had to overcome many obstacles to obtain her medical degree. In a time when education was not open to women, she had to fight against discrimination and hardships to gain admissions into medical school. Elizabeth Blackwell was a very determined woman and overcame the obstacles that she faced through school and afterward as she attempted to find a place to practice medicine. Dr. Blackwell also had an enormous impact on the poor in New York City and was a strong advocate for women entering the medical profession. She remained a supporter for education of women through her life.

Woolsey articulates, “‘these annoyances could not have been endured by the nurses but for the knowledge that they were pioneers, who were, if possibly, to gain standing ground for others-who must create the position they wished to occupy” . This excerpt exposes the true barrier between the sexes in the workplace. However, Woolsey brings up an important point- although women were treated at an unfair advantage, their persistence in the workplace paved the way for future women. Miss Bucklin recalls her first day entering the hospital thinking, “‘If any woman has done this, I can’” . Bucklin’s statement truly illuminates how one woman’s victory was a victory for all women; one female nurse or doctor inspired many more to enter the field of medicine regardless of gender

She soon picked up an interest in medicine, and looked into becoming a physician. After being rejected by many medical schools, she was accepted into the Geneva Medical College in 1847. Male students and faculty were asked to vote on her acceptance, and most voted yes as a joke. Blackwell continued on to graduate from the school, and in 1849 became the first woman to receive her medical degree in the United States. Ten years after her acceptance, with the help of her colleagues, she opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in 1857. Blackwell had previously attended the Women’s Rights Convention of 1850 in Worcester, where she advocated for women in the medical field. Although Elizabeth Blackwell did not spend the majority of her time directly fighting for women’s rights, she provided a stepping stone. She was voted into the Geneva Medical College jokingly, and proved that women were more intelligent than they were thought to be, and that they could be physicians or whatever they put their mind to. This set a precedent for the medical world known today, where many of the top doctors are female.

The 150th anniversary of the founding of the Women’s Rights movement was celebrated in 1998, today women benefit from the tremendous positive changes brought about by this movement. These women empowered one another in promoting social change. The National Women’s History Project (NWHP) (1999) stated

Two weeks ago, Feminist Frequency launched a crowdfunding campaign for Ordinary Women, our new video series about incredible, defiant women throughout history, and we’re pleased to say that we’re on our way, having raised over $73,000 from more than 1,200 supporters so far. Your generosity and enthusiasm mean everything to us, especially in light of the pushback we get every time we speak up or speak at all.

Along her journey in the field of medicine she always tried to promote medical education for women. If fact, she ended up opening up a medical college for women.

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

The field of medicine has been constantly progressing through the centuries with surgery, as one of its most fundamental structure of medicine. Cutting people open to find the harm and relieving them of it. But as the field of surgery progress over time; the surgical environment has developed a gender sphere that makes it difficult for women to become surgeons. The glass ceiling is a political metaphor that exists to explain the gender disadvantages within disciplined jobs (The Glass Ceiling Effect*). Women today, regardless of their qualifications face an obstacle that “appear[s] to be a distinctively gender phenomenon” (1) in any highly disciplined jobs, especially in the field of surgery.

Throughout history, women have been seen in many different lights. From a woman’s perspective she is strong, smart, helpful and equal to men. In the eyes of men, she is seen as the weaker being, the housewife, and the caretaker. By looking at the following pieces of writing, one can see that through the centuries, women have struggled to break out of the mold that man had put her in and make themselves known in society as important.