View/Open - ARAN - National University of Ireland, Galway
View/Open - ARAN - National University of Ireland, Galway
View/Open - ARAN - National University of Ireland, Galway
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Abstract<br />
This thesis examines the history <strong>of</strong> women in medicine in <strong>Ireland</strong> from the 1880s to the 1920s. It argues that<br />
Irish institutions in the period demonstrated more favourable attitudes than their British counterparts<br />
towards women studying medicine. This may be seen through the history <strong>of</strong> women’s admission to Irish<br />
medical schools, in particular, the decision <strong>of</strong> the KQCPI to become the first medical institution in the United<br />
Kingdom to admit women following the Enabling Act <strong>of</strong> 1876, and through the treatment <strong>of</strong> women medical<br />
students while at university. And, in their pr<strong>of</strong>essional careers, it appears that this egalitarianism continued.<br />
The thesis is the first collective biography <strong>of</strong> the 760 women who studied medicine in <strong>Ireland</strong> from the 1880s<br />
to the 1920s. It reveals that women medical students tended to come from well-to-do backgrounds but that<br />
their choice <strong>of</strong> university was dependant on religious persuasion, financial factors and on which universities<br />
were open to women at the time. With regard to their medical education, it is evident that women were<br />
treated fairly by Irish university authorities. Similarly, albeit for financial reasons, Irish hospitals appeared to<br />
have welcomed women students to their wards. Nevertheless, it is clear that in the context <strong>of</strong> Irish<br />
universities, women medical students came to occupy a world separate from the men, created literally<br />
through separate dissecting rooms and ladies’ rooms while lady medicals reinforced this sense <strong>of</strong> distinction<br />
through their self-identification as a cohort.<br />
In subsequent chapters, I examine whether this paradox <strong>of</strong> egalitarianism and separatism continued in the<br />
careers <strong>of</strong> these early women doctors. My investigation <strong>of</strong> their career destinations reveals that Irish women<br />
medical graduates did not tend to enter into the careers that were expected <strong>of</strong> them, such as the missionary<br />
field and women’s and children’s health. Rather, women doctors were most commonly integrated into the<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional sphere as general practitioners, while those who emigrated to England were more likely to<br />
work in hospitals and public health. I argue that the First World War, which is <strong>of</strong>ten cited as having been a<br />
breakthrough for women’s employment opportunities, did not result in increased opportunities for women<br />
doctors in <strong>Ireland</strong>. Rather, opportunities for women in medicine were more limited after 1918. My in-depth<br />
examination <strong>of</strong> the lives <strong>of</strong> five Irish female medical graduates gives a deeper insight into the themes and<br />
tensions discussed in earlier chapters.<br />
This thesis suggests that medical women, with regard to their admission to medical school, experiences<br />
and careers, were treated fairly by the Irish medical hierarchy. It highlights the distinctiveness <strong>of</strong> medical<br />
education in <strong>Ireland</strong> in the period and challenges us to reconsider the way that we think about the history <strong>of</strong><br />
women in higher education, medicine and the pr<strong>of</strong>essions in <strong>Ireland</strong>.<br />
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