Women: Phase 1 What was the situation in 1850?

Question 1

Over the 600 years before 1850 how had the role of women in medicine been steadily reduced?

Answer 1

Middle Ages - Church only allowed men to train as physicians. Also stopped women getting licenses as healers as they were being suspected of being witches.

1700s - Surgeons had to have a medical degree but women couldn’t go to university. Male doctors started to take over the role of midwives for wealthy families

Schools for girls were rare before the 1860s and they only tended to teach cooking, dressmaking and writing.

Question 2

What did the government introduce in 1852?

Answer 2

The Medical Registration Act which required doctors to belong to one of the Royal Colleges (Physicians, Surgeons or Apothecaries). All were closed to women.

Question 3

What could women do in medicine?

Answer 3

Women could still be nurses and often they played a huge role as healers in the home where people couldn’t afford the doctor.