In the world today, we are used to encountering female doctors of all kinds. It is nothing special, but it was clearly not always the case when you look back into history. In fact, the very first woman who was allowed to enter medical school from the United States was apparently admitted as a joke!
Yes, the men at Geneva Medical School thought that it would be a jolly good old laugh if they allowed this woman by the name of Elizabeth Blackwell into their hallowed halls. They believed that she would make a fool of herself, and it would prove some idea that women were just not able to work in these kinds of jobs.
However, the laugh really was on them, because after being admitted in 1847, she then graduated from medical school in 1849, much to the amazement of everybody else who was in her class. After that, she immediately sought to open her very own practice and ultimately went on to create an infirmary with the sole purpose of helping to look after the poor.
Once she had graduated, it’s fair to say that attitudes towards women in the medical field changed quite considerably.