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Introduction by Natalie Pigeard-Micault
Paris X, EA
373 History of philosophy, History of sciences.
natalie.pigeard@laposte.net
Translation by Karine Debbasch
karine.debbasch@parisdescartes.fr
Paris X, EA 373 History of philosophy, History of sciences.
natalie.pigeard@laposte.net
karine.debbasch@parisdescartes.fr
Political context
The second decade of the Empire was a turning point for France. [1]In 1867, Victor Duruy, Minister of Public Instruction, created secondary courses for young women. These were such a success that there were soon 250 to 300 young women attending every course given at the Sorbonne. [2] But although these courses were popular in the liberal bourgeoisie [3], they did not compensate for the absence of a secondary education that would provide women with the knowledge necessary to take the baccalaureate diploma and to register at University. In France, as no structure was specifically designed for them, women had to impose themselves among male students. In 1861, Julie Daubié registered for the baccalaureate and took it in Lyon (she was refused permission to do so in Paris). However, she was an exception. In other countries, the situation was different: in Russia, England, the United States, Rumania and still other countries, young women could attend secondary courses either in private schools created especially for them (and often by them, too) or in public schools that were female only. In Russia, although secondary education remained open to women, the Russian government decided in 1862 to close Saint Petersburg’s private higher education schools for women. Young Russian women however, contrary to French young women, had access to the instruction necessary for further education. Thus, the first woman to enter a medical school was Russian.
In 1864, a Russian young woman left her country to study medicine in Zurich. In the fall, she solicited from the Swiss Senate the authorization to attend the classes in natural history, anatomy and histology given at the University of Zurich. She got the approval of the professors and the Senate granted her request; but in the end she did not take her degree. In 1865 Nadejda Souslova was in turn accepted at Zurich. In 1866, she requested the right to defend a doctoral thesis; she thus became the first woman doctor to graduate from a mixed European university. [4]Nadejda Souslova’ success immediately reverberated among Russian, English and American women.
First female admissions in Paris
In 1866, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Charles Adolphe Wurtz (1817-1884), met Madeleine Brès (1839-1925), who wanted to undertake medical studies. Wurtz advised her to start with taking the baccalaureate examinations, but he also promised her that he would plead her case to the Ministry of Public Instruction.
As he knew that two years earlier women had been allowed at the medical school in Zurich, Wurtz asked Doctor Alexis Dureau (1831-1904) to go there. Dureau wrote: "Dean Wurtz thus commissioned me to enquire about everything that was related, from both a legal and a practical point of view, to admitting women into foreign universities." [5]
After Dureau’s return, Wurtz submitted to Victor Duruy a report on female education across Europe and was able to win Madeleine Brès’s case. But before Madeleine Brès came back with her baccalaureate degrees, three foreign women had already been admitted to the medical school: Mary Putnam (American, born in London), Catherine Gontcharoff (Russian), and Elizabeth Garrett (English).
The world of medically educated women, although geographically quite large, was numerically restricted enough for a network to develop quickly. In 1867, the Englishwoman Elizabeth Garrett wrote to Mary Putnam, who was trying to gain admission to the Paris faculty of medicine, to enquire about the outcome of her attempt. When she learnt that Mary Putnam had been admitted, Elizabeth Garrett crossed the Channel and registered too. She became the first woman doctor of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris with a thesis on migraines that she defended on June 15, 1870.
When Madeleine Brès applied to register in 1868, after obtaining her baccalaureate degrees, the procedure had already ceased to be exceptional. In 1875, she became the first French female doctor of medicine.
Over the next few years, female students went either to the Faculty of Zurich or to that of Paris. In France, over the first 15 years, the majority of female students were of Anglo-Saxon origin. But as of the mid-1880s most of them came from Slavic countries. French women in the University long remained a minority, especially as they started being admitted to medical preparatory schools in the provinces, not at all attended by foreigners. In Paris, there were less than 10 women in medical school before 1873; less than 40 from 1873 to 1881; a hundred in 1884. In 1887, out of the 114 women undertaking medical studies, no more than 12 of them were French; 70 were Russian, 20 Polish, 8 English, 1 North American, 1 Austrian, 1 Greek, and 1 Turkish. [6]
Mary Putnam
Mary Putnam (1842-1906), who graduated in 1863 from the New York College of Pharmacy and in 1864 from the Woman’s Medical College in Philadelphia, arrived in Paris in 1866. Although she was mainly interested in chemistry, she gladly followed Dr. Hippolyte Herard (1819-1913), who was a friend of her father’s, as he gave clinical lectures at the hospital. During the academic year 1866-1867, Herard gave her access not only to the medical world but also to several clinical lectures, including Benjamin Ball’s. At the beginning of the year 1867-1868 she was granted permission to study in a booth reserved for her in the library of the Faculté de médecine. In November 1867, she requested the permission to enroll officially at the Faculté.[7] The faculty assembly convened on November 27, 1867.[8] Professor Pierre Denonvilliers reminded the assembly of the opposition of the Public Instruction Council, over which he presided at the time: women’s entrance into medicine was viewed as contrary both to morals and to social conditions. Jules Béhier, professor of clinical medicine, declared that "women, being considered as legal minors from the moment they marry, cannot be held personally liable for anything; consequently, adopting Miss Putnam could entail serious complications." [9]
In the report on this session, Dean Wurtz is the only one mentioned as having defended Putnam’s case: he underlined that the law said nothing on the question and that very recently the Minister had allowed a woman, Madeleine Brès, to matriculate in medicine, under the condition that she obtained the two baccalaureates. Despite his important position, Wurtz was unable to obtain Mary Putnam’s acceptance: the professors voted against the young pharmacist’s request. Wurtz informed Duruy, who then presented the request to Princess Eugénie. She convened a council of ministers over which she presided herself. In the meantime, Mary Putnam was able to rally a few students to her cause; in the presence of a chaperone, naturally, they shared with her the classes they were allowed to attend. [10] At the end of the academic year, under the advice of Wurtz, and contrary to what was normally done (matriculation requests had to be validated first by the Faculty, then by the Minister), she directly solicited the Minister, who she knew was supportive of her cause. On July 23, 1871, Mary Putnam became the second woman to receive a medical degree from the Faculté de médecine de Paris, after Elizabeth Garrett (1870). She addressed the first dedication in her thesis to Wurtz, though she did not know his identity at the time: "To the professor whose name I am unaware of, who was the only one to vote in favor of my admission to the École, thereby protesting against the exclusion of women from higher education." [11]
Madeleine Brès
Madeleine Brès (1839-1925), the first French woman allowed to undertake medical studies at the Faculté de médecine, defended her doctorate in 1875 and graduated "summa cum laude". She was dean Wurtz’s first female student: for 7 years, she worked in his chemistry laboratory.
Among others, Brès dedicated her thesis to Broca, who had played an important role for her five years earlier. In 1870, during the siege of Paris and more particularly during the Commune and the Bloody Week, Madeleine Brès had worked as an intern at the Hôpital de la Pitié de Paris, substituting for Paul Broca who had himself suggested her and appointed her as a temporary intern. Broca recalled:
"Mrs. Brès joined my department in 1869 as a probationary student. In September 1870, several interns having been called to military hospitals, temporary interns had to be appointed. Under my recommendation, Mrs. Brès was designated as a temporary intern. In this capacity, during the two sieges of Paris and until the month of July 1871, she performed her duty with an exactitude that was not even hindered by the bombing of the hospital. Her work has always proved very satisfactory and her behavior faultless. Mrs. Brès was conspicuous for her zeal, her dedication and her impeccable attitude. She proved particularly helpful during the last insurrection." [12]After this summary of the events, Broca went on to compliment Mrs. Brès further on her availability and her commitment and also on her qualities as a physician. Jules Gavarret, Constant Sappey, Paul Lorain and Charles Adolphe Wurtz also wrote in praise of her in a joint report:
"We are pleased to declare that Mrs. Brès, through her impeccable behavior, her hard work and her zeal in the hospital, gained the respect of all the students she had to interact with, and justified the opening of our courses to other female students." [13]At the beginning of the 1871 academic year, she requested permission to take the externship and internship examinations. The director of the Assistance publique, despite the petitions and demonstrations in her favor, rejected her request with the following explanation: "Perhaps if it had been for you alone…" [14]
The point was therefore not to create any precedent. After this rebuttal, female students launched several petitions to obtain the same rights to examinations and diplomas as male students. At last, in 1881, the Conseil de surveillance de l'administration de l'Assistance publique finally convened to solve the question of opening externships to women; that of internship was similarly addressed in 1885.
Men and women physicians
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. |
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