Today we almost take female doctors for granted, but it’s only been relatively recently that women began being admitted to medical school to train as doctors. Before that, women were limited to careers as nurses and midwives, if they were allowed to pursue medical careers at all.
In 1849 Elizabeth Blackwell became the first women to graduate from a medical school in the United States as a doctor. She had been rejected by several schools, not because of her qualifications, but because she was a woman. She was finally admitted to Geneva Medical College, Hobart College of Medicine today, but only after receiving a unanimous vote of approval from the all male student body.
This same school would reject her sister Emily’s application four years later. A school in Chicago admitted her, but forced her to leave at the end of her first semester after classmates complained about working with a woman. She found a place at Case Western Reserve University which already had one female student.
So the first and third women to earn medical degrees in the United States were sisters! They went on to found a medical school for women so qualified female students would have a place dedicated to their education.
