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WOMEN IN
MEDICINE

Breaking the Glass:
Breaking the Glass:

A Historical Review of
A Historical Review of

Women in Medicine
Women in Medicine

By Cara J. Schachter and Allison Foster
By Cara J. Schachter and Allison Foster

T given the opportunity to at-
he first medical college in the United States was founded in
tend. The men in charge of
1765, yet women would not be allowed to join the ranks of
their male colleagues until nearly a century later. Throughout
the early years of medical education, it was expressly understood that medical education viewed
Blackwell as a threat to the
women were not only intellectually inferior to men, but their desig- careful lines drawn between
nated role in society was exclusively within the domestic sphere. the male and female spheres of
Women who engaged in medical pursuits prior to the women’s health society. Her eventual admis-
revolution faced discrimination by employers and patients alike. De- sion almost wasn’t approved;
spite this, several pioneers emerged to challenge the social constructs the men of Geneva Medical
stacked against women in medicine. Of note, Elizabeth Blackwell be- College voted unanimously to
came the first woman to graduate from an American medical school, admit her, believing her admis-
Geneva Medical College, in 1849. Ann Preston established the first all- sion to be a prank. Blackwell
women medical board after being barred from training in clinics by the was successful throughout
men of the Philadelphia Medical Society. Both women persevered medical school and graduated
throughout the entirety of their careers to pave the way for generations in 1849, but subsequently
Elizabeth Blackwell
of female physicians to enter the medical field. They overcame oppres- struggled to find work. Hospi-
sion and discrimination from their first medical school application to tals did not acknowledge her degree or permit her additional training
their very last patient. These two women, along with countless others under their physicians. Despite this resistance, she would go on to
throughout history, are responsible for many of the rights women in found the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children in
medicine are granted today. 1857 and the College of New York Infirmary in 1867. After organizing
Elizabeth Blackwell was the first female to be admitted to an Amer- several female medical efforts during the Civil War, Blackwell returned
ican medical college in 1847. Like many women who came before, her to England and established the London School of Medicine for
success was preceded by countless failures and rejections. Prior to her Women in 1874 before officially retiring from medicine in 1877.
admission to Geneva Medical College, Blackwell was rejected more Ann Preston was the only surviving daughter of a large Quaker fam-
than ten times on the basis of presumed intellectual inferiority, as well ily settled on the outskirts of Philadelphia. After receiving a modest
as the daunting possibility that she could potentially be successful if education, Preston developed an initial interest in pursuing medicine

18 SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE • November 2021