"Why was it difficult for women to be doctors?"

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Louise Jones

History Essay

Why was it difficult for women to be doctors?”

        In this essay I will answer the above question in as much detail as possible, outlining all of the main reasons why it was difficult for a women to become a doctor.

        Probably the biggest problems women faced were prejudice and men’s sexist views. Most men believed that a “woman’s role” was to stay at home and look after the home and children. If you were a woman of the working class you were expected to go out to work to bring in some money. It was generally accepted throughout the classes, however, that no woman should have any job which would place her in an equal position to a man. For centuries doctors had always been men. To allow women into the medical profession was unheard of, at least in advanced countries. In some poorer countries, women were doctors, but only because of the low resources and funding for medicine. The only link women were allowed to have with the medical profession was midwifery, where it was tradition to have women instead of men.

        By the beginning of the nineteenth century, some women began to protest about this. They believed that a woman should have the same right as a man to become a doctor.

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        During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale had taken some nurses out to the Crimea and helped care for the wounded British soldiers. As a result, nursing was accepted as a worthwhile profession. Women were not scorned for wanting to become nurses. Now women wanted the same to happen for doctors. They had a long way to go, though. Most people in any position of power were men, so it would be very difficult for the women to have their case even considered. Men did not like the idea that women were starting to become more equal to the men than ...

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