Contrasting Arguments for Women in Medicine: A Historical Overview for Radiologists

Abstract

For most of history, women have been underrepresented in the profession of medicine. At the turn of the 20th century, fewer than 6% of US physicians were women. In just the past few years, however, the number of women studying medicine in the United States has surpassed that of men. To understand how and why this happened, it is necessary to look back to the 19th century, and in particular to two women physicians, each of whom pioneered a path into medicine, Elizabeth Blackwell and Mary Putnam Jacobi.