Irish Women in Medicine C.1880s-1920s ― Origins, Education and Careers

This book is the first comprehensive history of Irish women in medicine in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It focuses on the debates surrounding women's admission to Irish medical schools, the geographical and social backgrounds of early women medical students, their educational experiences and their subsequent careers. Kelly portrays Irish medical schools as open-minded with regard to the admission of women to the medical profession and suggests that women were treated fairly during their time in medical education. The study highlights major differences between Irish and British experiences: most significantly, that Irish institutions were more open-minded than Britain's with regard to attitudes towards women's medical education, and that the Irish system of medical education was inclusive and paternalistic towards women students. At the same time, women medical students, in common with their British and American sisters, were certainly seen as a separate cohort from the men and had a distinctive social identity which was crafted both by and for them. The book also covers women's subsequent careers within the medical profession. Most importantly, this book will change the way we consider the history of women in medicine, higher education and the professions in Ireland.

Laura Kelly is Lecturer in the History of Health and Medicine at the University of Strathclyde