Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women: Autobiographical Sketches by Elizabeth Blackwell

The history of women as healers dates back many centuries, long before the life of Elizabeth Blackwell. We i have evidence of women as healers and midwives in ancient Greece; for example, some women have funeral inscriptions describing them with the terms midwife and physician. Women\u27s practice of medicine was not universally welcomed; in Athens during the fourth century BCE, female healers were apparently accused of performing illegal abortions and banned from the profession. Stories suggest that one of the era\u27s most famous medical women, Agnodice, had to cut her hair and dress in men\u27s clothing to attend physicians\u27 classes, since her practice of medicine was illegal. Allegedly, when her secret was revealed, Agnodice had won such support among a high-status female clientele that those women blocked their husbands and friends from punishing her. According to some accounts, Agnodice was permitted to continue her work, and the laws were amended to allow women to study and practice medicine as long as they confined their treatments to a female clientele.https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/history_books/1007/thumbnail.jp