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Advances were made in the study of female oriented medicine during this period (existing source here). However, the texts that were written used the masculine form, indicating that gynecological texts were directed towards male doctors, not female midwives. The only mention of midwives in these texts seems to be when direct contact with a woman’s genitalia is necessary; only then do texts specifically mention the women involved in the procedure. (Barkai  76). Female practitioners contributed significantly to both to the practice of medicine inside and outside of jewish communities, and to the body of medical knowledge in jewish community and beyond.

While women contributed to the advancement of Jewish medicine during this time, there were still a number of restrictions placed on them by society. No Jew, male or female, was permitted to attend a Christian university. This could be bypassed by taking an examination and acquiring a licentia curandi et practicandi (Barkai 17-18). In at least one case, this examination was specifically directed towards Jews that would work on Christians patients (Cabarello Navas).

As a result, the education of these women largely fell to their male relatives. Both Hava (also known as Hana) and Viridimura were female Jewish practitioners whose direct relatives—Hava’s husband and sons, Virdimura’s husband—were practitioners as well. (Shatzmiller 109-110). Jewish medical practitioners were often educated in Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew, which gave them access to medical texts that were often inaccessible to their Christian counterparts (Whaley 23). Working as physicians, surgeons, and midwives, Jewish women were accepted as medical authorities in Paris, Florence, Naples, and Sicily, among other cities. Sara of St. Gilles, for instance, was a Jewish doctor who admitted a Christian student in 14th century France (Shatzmiller 110). Jewish midwives made up a larger percentage of practitioners in some regions than their population would suggest.[Source? Greene?] Jewish practitioners participated in the exchange of knowledge between Christian and Muslim writers and practitioners. The degree to which Jewish women practiced midwifery in the Middle Ages depended largely on the areas in which they lived. In Iberia, for instance, Jews were well accustomed to a mix of Muslim, Christian, and their own Jewish culture. Along with this came a shared understanding of medicine; Jews living in this area even wrote medicinal texts in Judeo-Arabic (Arabic written in Hebrew letters) rather than standard Hebrew or the local vernacular.[1] Here, it was commonplace for Jewish midwives to work alongside Christian and/or Muslim women.[2] However, Jewish women still clearly faced adversity and discrimination on basis of both their gender and religion. This is more clearly demonstrated in Western Europe, where it is difficult to determine if Jewish midwives working for non-Jewish patients was common practice or, instead, the exception rather than the rule. In 1403 Floreta d’Ays, a Jewish midwife from the French town of Marseilles, was brought to court under charges of malpractice.[3] This is the first such known case brought against a midwife and, according to Monica Green, an unusual case of anti-Semitism in an otherwise relatively tolerant town.[4] While the end result of the trial is unknown, it’s clear that Floreta’s non-Christian status played a part in the charges levied against her.