User:Trav0001/London School of Medicine for Women

The Magazine of the London School of Medicine for Women
While women were admitted to practice medicine in 1876, many people were still skeptical of female physicians and considered them to be dangerous. People were uncomfortable with female physicians and preferred to be seen and cared for by a male physician. Because women were still underrepresented in the field of medicine and lacked the credibility that males had, they did not have a space where they could publicly defend themselves and establish their identities; the founding of the Magazine of the London School of Medicine for Women allowed women to do both of these things while also showing the many different professional identities that women in medicine held.

Women in medicine was still a fairly new idea and practice, so this magazine was important in letting women discuss their roles in medicine, giving them opportunities to participate in debates, and providing an inclusive space. In many ways, the introduction of this magazine served as an inclusive space for women in medicine and helped to pave the way for females in the medical field.

Female Medical Society
The Female Medical Society was founded in 1862 to promote employment of women who were educated and able to practice midwifery and treating diseases present in women and children. Another object of the society was to ensure that women had facilities to learn and practice treatment for midwifery and medicine. Course subjects that were taught within the society were obstetrics, anatomy, physiology, chemistry, materia medica, diseases of women and infants, and general medical science. There were over seventy-five women known to have completed their studies in these various courses and were able to be successful.

In 1869, the society ended; this was partially because there was a want and need for funding, but there was not funding available. Another reason was that the women were no longer pleased with the Medical Society. Although the Female Medical Society came to an end, the London School of Medicine for Women was established in 1874 and gave women the chance to further their education in medicine. Women needed a safe place to educate themselves while preparing for a career in medicine and the London School of Medicine for Women did just that.

Woman's Sphere in Medicine
Although many people believed that medicine should be a male-dominated field, the London School of Medicine for Women gave females the opportunity to turn from domestic housework, where they were expected to keep care of the house and children, to a very meaningful job in medicine helping those in need of medical assistance or care. One large reason behind the need for women working in medicine was that females tended to want to be seen by a female doctor, especially when dealing with obstetrics and gynecology.

Roughton discusses the typical personalities and qualities of men versus women due to the different environments that they are usually placed in and how these could affect their role in the health care field; men usually possess strength, courage and cunning qualities whereas women were unselfish, sympathetic, and solicitude in their behaviors and manners. As the idea that men were superior in intelligence and behavior began to slowly dissipate, people were more open to the idea of recognizing that the different qualities that women tended to possess could give them a different outlook on medical situations and how to best respond. While the approaches and behaviors of men and women tended to differ, the allowance of medical education for women helped to show that the different approaches were not bad or wrong; they could be helpful in medical practice, learning, and teaching.