Medical Women's Federation

The Medical Women's Federation is the largest UK body of women doctors. The organisation is dedicated to the advancement of the personal and professional development of women in medicine and to improving the health of women and their families in society. It was founded in 1917, and its headquarters are located in Tavistock Square, London.

Origins
The Medical Women's Foundation built upon the Association of Registered Medical Women, which had been founded in London in 1879 with the intention that it would 'speak on behalf of all medical women and represent their interests.' Nine members comprised the original association, though other provincial associations and members rapidly followed as more women became qualified in medicine. Representatives of these associations came together in 1916 to discuss the benefits of establishing a Federation. This meeting was in part stimulated by the Government's dismissive attitude towards women doctors who wished to serve in the First World War.

On 1 February 1917, Articles of Association were drawn up and signed, thus creating the Medical Women's Federation. There were 190 members to begin with, including Jane Harriett Walker, Ethel Williams, Catherine Chisholm, Florence Barrett, and Louisa Aldrich-Blake. The offices opened on 13 February. At the outset they considered accepting members living outside the British Isles and reported receiving enquiries from Canada, Tasmania, Australia and India.

The newly formed Federation launched a campaign to promote the role of women in the armed forces, arguing that women medics should be given commissions in order to maintain discipline in military hospitals. Concerns about women included fears about their physical abilities and the absence of suitable accommodation, and especially the attitude that women should not command men and fear that any concession might initiate a movement for officer-status on the behalf of other women serving in branches of the military. The Federation collected testimonies and excellent records, but despite their petitioning and campaigning the War Office remained reluctant to grant women equal status.

Other early focusses included venereal disease, prostitution, and maternity and infant welfare.

Inter-war years
In the 1920s, the Federation was concerned about the number of organisations which restricted access to women, including medical schools, local authorities and other employers. Several medical schools had reverted to refusing women access, and many organisations had marriage bars. An early campaign of the Federation included a 1918 protest against London County Council's decision to return to a pre-war refusal to employ married women. A standing committee on Married Medical Women followed in 1921. By the 1930s, Stepney and the city of York had appointed women Medical Officers of Health.

In addition to their work on the employment of women, the Federation examined varied aspects of women's health during the inter-war years. Issues included venereal disease, nutrition, lunacy law reform, the fitness of women to pilot commercial aeroplanes, the menopause, and guidance on the hygiene of menstruation (a Federation pamphlet on this subject sold 10,000 copies in a single year). In 1921, the Association of Medical Women in India became affiliated to the Federation, and the improvement of women's health in India was a Federation campaign. Another particular focus during this period was sexual health. In 1921, a subcommittee was appointed to discuss birth control, a topic that was much discussed at the time in light of the campaigning of Marie Stopes. In 1930, Dr Margaret Ida Balfour published research into maternity care of mill-workers in Bombay, India. By 1931, a resolution was passed stating that instruction in the provision of birth control should be included in medical schools' gynaecological syllabus. They also argued that the Birth Control Investigation Committee ought to include a woman gynaecologist.

Second World War
Before the outbreak of the Second World War, the Federation and War Office discussed the role that women would play in the conflict. They decided that women were to receive the same rates of pay as their male counterparts, and the same allowances as single men doctors. However, the Federation were unsuccessful in their efforts to obtain the right for women to be commissioned personnel, and women were only granted "relative rank".

The Federation achieved several successes in terms of incorporating their concerns into government policy during the war. Women served on a number of medical boards and panels of consultants, though not on the Ministry of Labour's staff. The federation also lobbied government on issues including equal pay, the birth rate, nursery school provision, and the employment of women in the Diplomatic Services. In 1944, the Goodenough committee strongly advocated changes to medicine including mixed medical schools and called for open competition for all hospital appointments. Its criticism of discrimination against women in hospitals as going against public interest was significant in furthering the aims of the Federation.

Post-war work
From the end of the Second World War, the Federation played an increasingly influential role in British Medicine due to its representation on other medical bodies. In 1946, British Medical Association appointed its first women members, and throughout the 1950s and 60s Federation members worked with the BMA and the General Medical Council as well as other official committees.

The Federation also made connections with other women's organisations such as the Women's Group on Public Welfare. These connections led to work such as the creation of the Women's National Cancer Control Campaign in 1963, studies into ovarian cancer, and campaigning against female genital mutilation.

In addition to long-standing campaigns to address workplace or educational grievances of women medics, campaign issues after the war included: nursery arrangements, care of the child under the NHS, pain in childbirth, the health of schoolgirls, family planning in the National Health Service, abortion, rape and sexual assault, assisted reproduction, and child health.

In 1970, the organisation became eligible for charitable status and was registered on 16 November as the Medical Women's Federation Grant Fund. It is now registered with the Charity commission under its own name.

In 2008 the organisation reported having 1,200 members.

Presidents
• 1917-1920 Jane Harriett Walker

• 1920-1922 Mary Sturge

• 1922-1924 Florence Barrett

• 1924-1926 Frances Ivens

• 1926-1928 Christine Murrell

• 1928-1930 Catherine Chisholm

• 1930-1932 Louisa Martindale

• 1932-1934 Mabel L. Ramsay

• 1934-1936 Ethel Williams

• 1936 Mona Chalmers Watson

• 1936-1938 Ellen Orr

• 1938-1940 Elizabeth Bolton

• 1940-1942 Janet Aitken

• 1942-1944 Clara Stewart

• 1944-1946 Janet Mary Campbell

• 1946-1948 Mary Lucas Keene

• 1948-1950 Gertrude Herzfeld

• 1950-1953 Doris Odlum

• 1953-1954 Mary Esslemont

• 1954-1955 Annis Gillie

• 1955-1956 Mona MacNaughton

• 1956-1957 Kate Harrower

• 1957-1958 Jean Mackintosh

• 1958-1959 Katharine Lloyd-Williams

• 1959-1960 Georgiana Bonser

• 1960-1961 Sylvia Guthrie

• 1961-1962 Joyce Cockram

• 1962-1963 Patricia Shaw

• 1963-1964 Dorothy McNair

• 1964-1965 Mary Crosse

• 1965-1966 Margaret Methven

• 1966-1967 Josephine Barnes

• 1967-1968 Marian Maxwell Reekie

• 1968-1969 Beryl Corner

• 1969-1970 Catherine Gray

• 1970-1971 Agnes Nutt

• 1971-1972 Albertine Winner

• 1972-1973 Jean Hallum

• 1973-1974 Catrin Williams

• 1974-1975 Josephine Williamson

• 1975-1976 Joan Sutherland

• 1976-1977 Jean Lawrie

• 1977-1978 Mary Jones

• 1978 Mary Duguid

• 1979-1980 Romola Dunsmore

• 1980-1981 Amelia Marrow

• 1981-1982 Ruth Bowden

• 1982-1983 Rosemary Rue

• 1983-1984 Dorothy Ward

• 1984-1985 Jean Scott

• 1986-1987 Beulah Bewley

• 1987-1988 Lotte Newman

• 1988-1989 Margaret Sprackling

• 1989-1990 Nuala Sterling

• 1990-1992 Liz Shore

• 1992-1993 Wendy Savage

• 1993-1994 Gillian Markham

• 1994-1995 Chitra Bharucha

• 1995-1996 Judith Chapman

• 1996-1997 Fleur Fisher

• 1997-1998 Anne Rennie

• 1998-1999 Joan Trowell

• 1999-2000 Fiona Subotsky

• 2000-2001 Kate Ward

• 2001-2002 Ilora Finlay

• 2002-2003 Pauline Brimblecombe

• 2003-2004 Melanie Jones

• 2004-2005 Selena Gray

• 2005-2006 Bhupinder Sandhu

• 2006-2007 Melanie Davies

• 2007-2008 Sue Ward

• 2008-2010 Helen Goodyear

• 2010-2012 Clarissa Fabre

• 2012-2014 Fiona Cornish

• 2014-2016 Sally Davies

• 2016-2018 Parveen Kumar

• 2018-2020 Henrietta Bowden-Jones

• 2020– 2021 Neena Modi

• 2021 - 2023 Chloe Orkin

• 2023 - present Scarlett McNally