Among the professors at the Faculté de médecine, some proved ardent
supporters of the right of women to become physicians, such as Wurtz, Sappey,
Broca, Landouzy, Verneuil. Others on the contrary long opposed the idea: Béhier,
Denonvilliers, Trelat, Moutard-Martin, Hardy [15]. Others still had not so clear-cut an opinion: Vulpian,
Gosselin and Charcot, for instance. Charcot is particularly interesting in that
his point of view was typical of his time. The report on Caroline Schultze’s
thesis defense in 1888, in front of a jury presided by Charcot, shows that a
professor could sign a petition in favor of women’s access to internship, and at
the same time be persuaded that women should not practice medicine. Reading the
report, one understands why Schultze forgot to mention him when dedicating her
work. [16] Charcot indeed used the argument
of the "nature" of women.
Because of their "nature" women lack the physical strength a physician needs
to lift patients. The physical "nature" of women also makes them particularly
weak for one week a month during menstruation. How can a woman take care of
somebody else when she should be taking care of herself? Their esthetic "nature"
is yet another obstacle. Women are "by nature" beautiful and delicate creatures
in complete contrast with the coarse bodies they might have to treat. The
"natural sensitivity" of women is a third obstacle. Seeing blood, dissected
bodies or filth profoundly repels them… Finally, nature prevents women from
having "the roles they want to play" because of a fourth, psychological
obstacle: their extremely proud, ambitious disposition. "Never do they wish to
play a mere second role" when they want to take men’s places. Otherwise,
wouldn’t they be satisfied with being nurses or midwives?
The esthetic and physical traits of women were the main argument used by all
those who opposed the admission of women, be they professors or journalists. But
it was not only men: women themselves adhered to the concept of a specifically
feminine "nature". Mrs. Gaël, whose real name was Augustine Girault, published
in 1868 La femme médecin (The Woman Physician)[17]. Although defending the right of women to become
physicians, the author nevertheless reminded the readers that, due to the
"nature" of women, she initially was of a different mind. Defining the "feminine
nature" in exactly the same way as the opponents to the idea of women doctors,
the author tried to demonstrate that women may become physicians precisely
thanks to their feminine "nature". Gaël explained that, because it is in the
nature of women to gestate and to educate children, the vocation of women is to
heal; this can be witnessed in certain midwives, nuns or even ordinary mothers.
However, the author’s reasoning was going backwards and rejoined that of
Charcot.
Charcot’s argument was also founded on notions of ambition and exception. In
Charcot’s view, only a few exceptional women could enroll at the École de
médecine. And Charcot was entitled to believing in exceptions, as women medical
students were no more than a hundred at the end of the 1880s. Mrs. Gaël also
adhered to the notion of "exceptional women". She admitted that a physician’s
career was more demanding than the career of a midwife, and subsequently added
that if some women were destined to practice medicine, they could only be
exceptions. "That these special vocations should find an outlet (…) is in our
eyes perfectly fair and rational (…)".
Stereotypes about women doctors
Scientific and medical journals did publish articles concerning women
doctors, but these mostly focused on the situation abroad. [18] Female students in France were never mentioned.
Theoretical questions were raised, but the actual French situation was not even
alluded to. When Elizabeth Garrett became the first woman to defend her thesis,
the event received no comment whatsoever, apart from the following line: "The
Faculté de médecine de Paris has just granted Miss Garrett a medical degree"[19]. The few later mentions of the event
appeared in the "miscellaneous" column.
[20] But the press and various writings surrounding it allow one to see how
the stereotype of the woman-doctor was created.
"(…) The accoutrement (blood-stained overalls),
the appalling rooms, the human body parts and remains, the hard work contrast
most crudely with feminine curves. (…) These young women lose the graciousness,
the gentleness, the charm of their sex. They are neither women nor men." [21]
Then came the physical nature of women:
"And when they are pregnant, how will they get
close to their patients with their swollen bellies ?" [22]
Both the study and the practice of medicine required masculine
qualities:
"In order to be a physician one needs a sharp and
open mind, a solid and varied education, a serious and strong character, a great
deal of self-control, a mix of benignity and stamina, a complete command over
one’s feelings, moral vigor and, when necessary, muscular strength. (…) Isn’t
feminine nature just the opposite?" [23]
Le Journal de médecine et de chirurgie pratique resorted to social
morals:
"Medical journals keep arguing about women
doctors (…). Although we believe, as most of our colleagues do, that women
should not practice the medical profession, we have reasons of our own. Some say
that women are not cut out for hard, repugnant medical studies; their
sensitivity, greater than that of men, would prevent them from undertaking such
studies, and their intelligence would not be comprehensive enough (…) But this
is not true, as experience has proved. (…) What objection have we got left? The
only truly serious one. (…) Working as a doctor is absolutely incompatible with
a woman’s life."
"Women doctors will renounce marriage; so be it! They
will silence their hearts, their senses (…) stifle their instincts (…) they will
not be women any longer (…) their moral beings will have undergone a complete
transformation (…) Their physical beings will remain." [24]
In June 1875:
"Women cannot seriously pursue medical careers
(…) unless they stop being women: due to physiological laws, women doctors are
ambiguous, hermaphrodite or sexless creatures, monsters at any rate. Let those
who fancy such a distinction try to acquire it." [25]
The Gazette hebdomadaire de médecine et de chirurgie referred to
"androgynous monsters". [26]
Little by little, the fear of female competition dominated the debate.
For fear that women doctors might believe the contrary, the Journal de
médecine et de chirurgie pratique specified: "Let us add that it seems
obvious that in France women would be exposed to utter failure concerning the
final outcome." [27]
In 1884, at the time of the controversy surrounding women's admission to
internship, Manouvrier, a journalist at the Revue rose, a journal that
publicly supported the admission of women, evoked the competition feared by
opponents. "They (the opponents) would say that letting women acquire as much or
more competence as male doctors in delivering babies and in female or children’s
diseases, good sources of profit that anyone would be sorry to lose, would
endanger the corporation." [28]
The sentence from the Gazette hebdomadaire de médecine et de chirurgie
pratique called for no appeal. Dechambre, who saw through Duruy’s project to
open a medical school for women, who would then be appointed to medical posts in
the colonies, fulminated.
"Today (…) we find a former Minister of Public
Instruction who is starting to recruit them for the medical profession. (…) The
final aim is to push women into amphitheatres and hospitals and to make doctors
out of them, no less. The project was initially conceived of by a most
respectable lady (Princess Eugénie) for Turkish women, but it is now being
extended to Algerian women, and will soon be extended to the whole world.
(…)
Although the scope of the project is limited and the school will not
issue medical degrees, women will take their degrees at the University, and they
will be able to practice the medical profession anywhere, not in colonized
countries only. (…) There is no doubt that this first step will lead to the
generalization in the fair sex of both the study and the practice of
medicine.
(…) One might however, in a pinch, conceive of the temporary
usefulness of women doctors in these countries; but we cannot conceive of such a
need ever being felt in France." [29]
The students’ opinions
History has retained part of Sorrel-Dejerine’s testimony according to which
female students were systematically booed by their male counterparts. [30] Before entering the amphitheatre, the
female students had to wait for the professor in the cloakroom. They had to sit
in the first row, under the protection of the professor. In spite of this
precaution, they were reportedly booed and insulted. One day, as they were tired
of waiting for the professor before entering the amphitheatre, they decided they
would go in by themselves and that they would sit, not in the first row, but on
the benches among the male students. This unexpected move left the male students
open-mouthed and put an end to their jokes. [31] Even if the 1884 petition against internship for women
emanated from ninety male interns, the mocking and aggressive attitude seems to
have been far from universal.
"We want today not a slightly better educated
female companion, but an equal, and we give women all the resources that so far
were our exclusive privilege so that they might actually become our equals. (…)
We have reason to believe that the first cause of the general inferiority of
women’s aptitudes compared to men’s is the difference in education. (…) Of the
female students currently in our school, not one has incurred the slightest
reproach on her behavior; their attitude, be it in the hospital, the
amphitheatre or the ward, has inspired nothing but respect and admiration". [32]
The same was true of the Faculté de droit.
"At the end of the first year classes, Mr. Colmet
de Santerre, professor of civil law, addressing the students, declared almost in
these words: ‘We hesitated before granting Miss Bilcescu permission to attend
the lectures, for fear we might have to police the amphitheatres; but this young
woman, whose assiduity and behavior have been exemplary, forced our esteem; you
have respected her like a sister, and we thank you for it’. These words were
covered by a thunder of applause." [33]
These testimonies tend to prove that students were more open to women
entering the university than professors were.
[34] Female students themselves observed that their male counterparts
accepted them. Putnam for instance mentioned in her correspondence the
complicity of the male students when it came to taking her examinations.
Numerous female students also dedicated their dissertations – in a sometimes
grandiloquent manner – to supportive males.
Matilda Ayrton, for example, dedicated her thesis: "To the students who,
since 1871, have repeatedly made me see that the words "Liberté, Égalité,
Fraternité" are not merely written on the walls but are the very spirit of our
school." [35]
Thus, out of the 28 women who defended their dissertations between 1870 and
1884, very few omitted to write a few words on the welcome they received, as a
prefatory dedication or in the text of their work, usually at the end of the
introduction. One of the means of support that cannot be denied, because it was
mandatory, was that of the student’s husband when she was married, or that of
her father otherwise. [36]
Militant women doctors
"The conclusion of this dissertation, obviously,
is that the second half of the 19th century was marked by a general movement
towards the intellectual and professional emancipation of women. All the
civilized nations gave a number of women the opportunity to study and practice
the medical sciences. The first women to fight for their intellectual and
professional emancipation, wherever they were, had to overcome all sorts of
difficulties; but nowhere, at least up to now, have their victories been
negated." [37]
The conclusion of Schultze’s dissertation on women’s history mentions female
medical students’ involvement in social and political struggles.
Indeed, some of these students fully adhered to the egalitarian claims of
feminists – as can be seen through the lives of Garrett and Putnam. Garrett held
meetings in favor of women’s suffrage. [38]
In 1908, she was elected mayor of Aldeburgh, on the Suffolk coast, thus becoming
the first woman mayor in England. [39] Mary
Putnam became a true socialist at the time of the Paris Commune. Once back in
America, she helped Élie Reclus, who after the Commune had taken refuge first in
Italy, then in Zurich, to go to the United States (1876). [40]Among the women from the École de médecine de Paris, one
should also mention Sophie Ananief, Kropotkin’s wife, who left Wurtz’s chemistry
laboratory in 1882 before defending her doctoral dissertation in order to join
her husband, who was detained in Claivaux. [41]
However, other female students, in particular French students, eschewed
feminism; this was the case of Madeleine Brès, for instance, who did not want to
be considered a feminist. Between 1870 and 1884, thirteen female students’
dissertations out of twenty-eight were written on questions in relation to
deliveries, children or women. Five out of the seven French women doctors wrote
a dissertation on one of these so-called feminine subjects. In the controversy
on women-doctors, unanimity was found when the patients were mentioned. A large
majority of those who were in favor of women doctors thought women should be
educated in medicine exclusively to take care of children’s and women’s
diseases. Some women doctors would have liked to be doctors for women. Mrs.
Brès, after her PhD, opened a nursery and gave lectures on children’s and
women’s hygiene. In that respect, the first sentence in her dissertation is
particularly telling: "My prime intention was to devote myself fully to treating
women’s and children’s diseases."[42]
The introduction of Catherine Ribard’s dissertation on the drainage of the
eye, which she defended in 1876, is quite revealing as well in this respect
:
"When I started studying medicine, I decided that
I would later devote myself exclusively to treating women’s and children’s
diseases. (…) But during my stay in Paris hospitals, I soon realized that eye
diseases frequently affected children."[43]
Notes
| [1] Albistur, Maïté -
Armogathe, Daniel, Histoire du féminisme français du Moyen-Âge à nos jours (A
history of French feminism, from the Middle Ages to our days). Paris: des
Femmes, 1977. p. 321. |
| [2] Meunier, Victor,
Cosmos du 18 janvier 1868. |
| [3] Ollivier, Marie
Thérèse, J’ai vécu l’agonie du second Empire (I witnessed the end of the Second
Empire), Paris: Fayard, 1970. p. 55. |
| [4] Lipinska, Mélanie,
Histoire des femmes médecins (A history of women doctors), Paris: G. Jacques
& Cie ed., PhD dissertation at the Faculté de médecine de Paris, 1900. 586
p. |
| [5] Dureau, Alexis cited
by Lipinska, Mélanie, Histoire des femmes médecins (A history of women doctors).
Paris : G. Jacques, 1900. p. 412. |
| [6] Schultze, Caroline, Les femmes médecins au XIXe siècle (Women doctors
in the 19th century). Paris: Ollier-Henry, 1888. p. 16. |
| [7] The
history of the first women doctors can be found mainly in: Lipinska,
Mélanie, Histoire des femmes médecins depuis l'antiquité jusqu'à nos jours (A
history of women doctors from Antiquity to today). Paris: Jacques, G & cie,
1900. III-586 p.- Lipinska, Mélanie, Les femmes et le progrès des sciences
médicales (Women and progress in the medical sciences). Paris: Masson, 1930.
III-235 p. -Schultze, Caroline, Les femmes médecins au XIXe siècle siècle (Women
doctors in the 19th century). Paris: Ollier-Henry, 1888. 76 p.
Joël, Constance, Les filles d'Esculape (The daughters of Esculapius), Paris:
Robert Laffont ed., 1988. 234 p. |
| [8] AN:
AJ16/6255, Minutes of the faculty assembly, Nov 27, 1867. |
| [9] Ibid. |
| [10] L'ouvrage de Mary Putnam, Life and Letters of Mary Putnam Jacobi, New
York, London: G.P. Putnam's sons, 1925. 381 p. |
| [11] Putnam, Mary, "De la graisse neutre et des acides gras" ("Of
neutral fat and fatty acids"), Paris: E. Parent ed., 1871.
PhD dissertation at the Faculté de médecine de Paris. 128 p. |
| [12] Broca cited by Schultze, Caroline, La femme médecin au XIXème siècle
(Women doctors in the 19th century), Paris:
Ollier-Henry, 1888. p. 19. |
| [13] Ibid. |
| [14] Joël, Constance, Les filles d’Esculape (The daughters of Esculapius). Paris: Robert Laffont, 1988. p.110
sqq. |
| [15] Lipinska, Mélanie
Histoire des femmes médecins (A history of women doctors): PhD thesis, Paris: G.
Jacques & Cie, 1900, p. 424. |
| [16] Molinari, G. de
"femmes-avocats et femmes-médecins" (Women lawyers and women doctors), Journal
des économistes, January 1889 issue, pp. 170-172. |
| [17] Gaël, A. La
femme-médecin, sa raison d'être, au point de vue du droit de la morale et de
l'humanité (Women doctors, their moral and human justification). Paris: Le
dentu, 1868. 103 p. |
| [18] Articles: "Les
femmes de l'université de Zurich" (Women at Zurich university), Gaz. Hebd. med.
chir. n° 35, August 30, 1872 p. 575. - V. Meunier, "Enseignement secondaire des
filles" (Female secondary education), Cosmos January 18, 1868, p. 27. - V.
Meunier, "Faits divers : les femmes médecins" (News brief: women doctors),
Cosmos May 2, 1868, p. 26 |
| [19] Gaz. hebd. med. chir., n° 27, July 8, 1870, p. 432. |
| [20] "The Faculté de médecine de Paris, as it is growing old, is
also becoming liberal. A few years ago, it denied Miss Patnum (sic for Putnam)
permission to take her medical examinations within its walls. The Minister had
to intervene; but the precedent created for Miss Patnum has since been applied
to Miss Elizabeth Garret (sic for Garrett), and there is no reason why France
should, in that respect, prove more exclusive than America and the leading
nations of Europe" "article 8041", J. méd. chir. prat., July
1870, p. 334. |
| [21] Richelot, G. La
femme-médecin (Women doctors), Paris: E. Dentu, 1875, p. 11. |
| [22] Ibid |
| [23] Richelot, G. La
femme-médecin (Women doctors), Paris: E. Dentu, 1875, p.43 sqq. |
| [24]
Lucas-Championnaire, Just, "article 9997" J. méd. chir. prat., June 1875 issue.
p. 241-242. |
| [25] Ibid. |
| [26] "Feuilleton", Gaz. hebd. med. chir., n°38, Sept 20, 1872,. pp.
409-421. |
| [27] Ibid. |
| [28] Manouvrier,
"L'internat des femmes" (Women’s internship), Revue rose, 1884, p.
594. |
| [29] Dechambre, Gaz. hebd. med. chir., n°28, July 15, 1870 p.
433. |
| [30] Sorrel-Dejerine,
Yvonne "Centenaire de la naissance de Melle Klumpke" (The hundredth anniversary
of Miss Klumpke’s birth), Association des femmes médecins, n°8, 1959. p.
14. |
| [31] Constance, Joël,
Les filles d'Esculape (The daughters of Esculapius), Paris: R. Laffont, 1988. p.
124. |
| [32] Richelot, Gustave,
La femme-médecin (Women doctors), Paris: E. Dentu, 1875. p.43 sqq. |
| [33] Sarmiza-Bilcescu,
Melle interviewed by Edmée Charrier, L'Évolution intellectuelle féminine, Paris:
Mechelinck, 1931. p.157. |
| [34] This idea is
defended by Carole Lécuyer, Une nouvelle figure de la jeune fille sous la IIIe
République : l'étudiante (A new category of young women under the Third
Republic: students), CLIO, N°4-1996 [on-line]. http://clio.revues.org/document437.html. Another testimony,
pointing in the same direction, given by Charrier: anonymous testimony of the
first female auditor at the Faculté de droit de Paris. Under Colmet d’Aage’s
deanship, the faculty assembly gave the future female auditor permission to
attend Professor Otrolan’s lectures, the latter having accepted to enforce
order. The day after a long preparatory speech addressed to the students, the
woman entered the amphitheater, accompanied by her two bodyguards: her husband
and the University secretary. "When the lady came in, the students paid no
attention to her: she sat down among them, took notes, and at the end of the
lecture she left just like everybody else. (…) The husband soon stopped
accompanying his wife, and the secretary followed suit and went back to his
office. But an important experiment had been carried out, in which the students
had demonstrated the best possible attitude (…)" See Charrier, Edmé, L'évolution
intellectuelle féminine (The intellectual evolution of women), Paris: A.
Mechelinck, 1901. pp. 176-178. |
| [35] Ayrton, Mathilda,
Recherches sur les dimensions en générales et sur le développement du corps chez
les japonais (Research on the general dimensions and development of the body
among the Japanese), PhD dissertation, imp. A. Parent, 1879. |
| [36] Berladsky, Anastasie wrote: "À mon meilleur ami, mon mari"
("To my best friend: my husband"). Étude histologique sur la structure
des artères (Histological study of the structure of arteries), PhD dissertation,
imp. A. Parent, 1878. |
| [37] Schultze, Caroline,
La femme médecin au XIXème siècle siècle (Women doctors in the 19th century),
Paris : Ollier-Henry, 1888. p. 76. (Conclusion). |
| [38] Richelot, Gustave,
La femme-médecin (Women doctors), Paris: E. Dentu, 1875. p. 28 et 43. |
| [39] Anonymous, "Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917)" [on-line:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/garrett_anderson_elizabeth.shtml]
Consulted on December 15, 2006 |
| [40] Maitron, Jean, Dictionnaire biographique du mouvement ouvrier
français (Biographical dictionary of the French working class movement)
[electronic resource, CD Rom], article
on Élie Reclus. |
| [41] Kropotkine, Pierre,
Autour d'une vie : mémoires d'un révolutionnaire. (Memoirs of a revolutionary) Brandès, G.
pref. s. l. : s.n. s.d., [on
line]. Consulted on September 20, 2006 .
|
| [42] Brès, Madeleine, De
la mamelle et l'allaitement (On breast and breastfeeding), PhD dissertation,
Paris: imp. A. Parent, 1875. 100 p. |
| [43] Ribard, Franceline,
Du Drainage de l'oeil dans différentes affections de l'oeil et particulièrement
dans le décollement de la rétine (The drainage of the eye in various eye
diseases and more particularly in retinal detachment). Paris: imp. A. Parent,
1876. 40 p. |
|
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