Women Physicians and the Cultures of Medicine

This volume examines the wide-ranging careers and diverse lives of American women physicians, shedding light on their struggles for equality, professional accomplishment, and personal happiness over the past 150 years. Leading scholars in the history of medicine chronicle the trials and triumphs of such extraordinary women as Marie Zakrzewska, one of the first female medical graduates in the United States and founder of the New England Hospital for Women and Children; Mary S. Calderone, the courageous and controversial medical director of Planned Parenthood in the mid-twentieth century; and Esther Pohl Lovejoy, who risked her life to bring medical aid and supplies to countries experiencing war, famine, and other catastrophes. Illuminating the ethnic, political, and personal diversity of women physicians, the book reveals them as dedicated professionals who grapple with obstacles and embrace challenges, even as they negotiate their own health, sexuality, and body images, the needs of their patients, and the rise of the women's health movement.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: New Perspectives on Women Physicians and Medicine in the United States, 1849 to the Present Part I: Performing Gender, Being a Woman Physician Chapter 1. Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Nineteenth-Century Politics of Women's Health Research Chapter 2. Maternity and the Female Body in the Writings of Dr. Marie Zakrzewska, 1829–1902 Chapter 3. Female Patient Agency and the 1892 Trial of Dr. Mary Dixon Jones in Late Nineteenth-Century Brooklyn Chapter 4. A Chinese Woman Doctor in Progressive Era Chicago Chapter 5. Professionalism versus Sexuality in the Career of Dr. Mary Steichen Calderone, 1904–1998 Part II: Challenging the Culture of Professionalism Chapter 6. The Legacy of Masculine Codes of Honor and the Admission of Women to the Medical Profession in the Nineteenth Century Chapter 7. Women Physicians and the Twentieth-Century Women's Health Movement in the United States Chapter 8. Narrative Forms in Our Bodies, Ourselves Chapter 9. Feminists Fight the Culture of Exclusion in Medical Education, 1970–1990 Part III: Expanding the Boundaries Chapter 10. Women Physicians and Medical Sects in Nineteenth-Century Chicago Chapter 11. Ruth A. Parmelee, Esther P. Lovejoy, and the Discourse of Motherhood in Asia Minor and Greece in the Early Twentieth Century Chapter 12. Women Physicians and a New Agenda for College Health, 1920–1970 Conclusion: Opportunities and Obstacles for Women Physicians in the Twenty-First Century List of Contributors Index