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A NEW START<o:p></o:p>When I was 11, my father, an anti-slavery activist, decided to give us a fresh start in New York. He hoped that the move from Bristol, England, across the Atlantic would help us financially and give him the opportunity to work to stop slavery in the US.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>My father believed his daughters should be given the same chances to develop their talents, as boys. Most people believed that a woman's place was in the home, or as a schoolteacher. <o:p></o:p>In 1838 my father died. His loss had a huge financial impact on our family. My brothers had to go to work, and my sisters and I started a school in our home to earn money to pay our bills.<o:p></o:p>A friend told me that she wished she could have been treated by a woman doctor, and she suggested that I study medicine. <o:p></o:p>DECISION TO BE A DOCTOR<o:p></o:p>There were no women doctors in the US at the time, so my first challenge was to get into university to study. Seventeen medical schools rejected my applications. Some were very clear it was not a job for a woman.<o:p></o:p>Eventually, I wrote to Geneva College, New York. I was accepted but the professors forced me to sit separately at lectures and often didn’t let me in the labs. And local people wouldn’t talk to me as I was seen as a ‘bad’ woman for not doing what was expected of me.<img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2Fb3b13b7f131f44b8b9040dab74852379%2F9fac3d42ea554d34be14c81bb8e65caf" alt="" style="width: 399.701px; height: 284.281px;"> <o:p></o:p>But that only motivated me even more. I graduated first in my class in 1849 and I became the first woman to qualify as a medical doctor in the US.<o:p></o:p>However, hospital policy meant I couldn’t work, just because I was female. It was frustrating and upsetting. In the end, my only choice was to leave America to work at a maternity hospital as a student midwife in Paris. While treating a child for an eye infection, I contracted ophthalmia. I lost the sight in one of my eyes. <o:p></o:p>CONTINUING THE FIGHT<o:p></o:p>After recovering from the infection, I returned to London and was allowed to continue my studies. I met Florence Nightingale. We both had a strong vision for helping the sick and caring for those in need. We knew that medical facilities for women and children were poor, and it was unbelievable that hospitals and pharmacies still refused to employ women. I was pleased to meet someone who had a drive to make changes, like me.<o:p></o:p>In 1851, I returned to New York City, and with the help of Quaker friends, I was able to open a small clinic to treat poor women and children. It was important to me that they receive the same kind of care that well-to-do people could afford.<img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2Fb3b13b7f131f44b8b9040dab74852379%2F3f40db35ba8640c3af5ef480ccea249b" alt="" style="width: 25%;"> <o:p></o:p>Women were not supposed to talk about their bodies and as a result many illnesses were not being picked upon or treated. Taking the clinic to the slums of New York was vital, as the need was greatest there, with so many people and so few doctors. <o:p></o:p>In 1857, my sister Emily and I opened the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children. It was the first clinic run entirely by women doctors. Eventually, the United States Sanitary Commission was established, based in many ways on the work we did in the New York slums.<o:p></o:p>MORE WORK TO BE DONE<o:p></o:p>I travelled between America and England to spread the word about sanitation and to campaign for the right to let women practise medicine. In 1859, I was the first woman to be added to the British Medical Register.<o:p></o:p>In 1868, I set up the Women’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary. The infirmary provided jobs for women doctors.<img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2Fb3b13b7f131f44b8b9040dab74852379%2F146723db94184ac8bf995bb42afe3840" alt="" style="width: 25%;"> <o:p></o:p>I was made a professor of gynaecology at the London School of Medicine for Women in 1875 and in 1876, the British Parliament agreed to register both male and female doctors. <o:p></o:p>In 1881, there were only 25 registered female doctors in England and Wales, but by 1911 there were 495 registered female doctors. Helping to educate women about their health and the health of their families was the driving purpose to my life.<o:p></o:p>GLOSSARY<o:p></o:p>Ophthalmia – inflammation of the eye, especially conjunctivitis.<o:p></o:p>Quaker – members of the Christian group known as the Society of Friends. They are dedicated to experiencing God personally rather than through clergy, such as priests or ministers.<o:p></o:p>Indigent – someone suffering from extreme poverty and in need.<o:p></o:p>LEGACY AND RECOGNITION<ul><li>In 1973, Elizabeth Blackwell was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.&nbsp;</li><li>In 2013, the University of Bristol launched the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research.</li><li>On February 3, 2016, National Women Physicians Day was declared a National Holiday. The National Holiday pays tribute to Dr Blackwell of the role she has played influencing women physicians in present-day and their strive for equity and equality.</li><li>On February 3, 2018, Google honoured her as a doodle in recognition of her 197th birth anniversary.</li><li>In May 2018, a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the former location of the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children, which Elizabeth Blackwell and her sister Emily Blackwell founded.</li></ul>IMAGE CAPTIONS AND CREDITS<o:p></o:p>Geneva Medical College, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p>Younger Elizabeth Blackwell, Alamy<o:p></o:p>Elizabeth Blackwell (1905), Joseph Stanley Kozlowski, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p><div> </div>

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