From Medical Feminism to Conservatism? Changing French Attitudes Towards Women Doctors and their Views on the Female Body: The Reception of Woman as Family Doctor between 1905 and the 1920s

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Abstract In this article, we examine the contrasting reception of the book Woman as Family Doctor in France between 1905 and the 1920s. Written by Dr Anna Fischer-Dückelmann, one of the first female doctors of the modern era, the book was an international bestseller. When first translated from German into French in 1905, it was well received; in 1911 it even won a prize at a state-sponsored exhibition. But a sudden outcry greeted its republication in 1922. Drawing on a wide range of sources, this paper shows that this reversal reflected changing attitudes towards women doctors. During the Belle Époque, the French authorities had been proud of their “medical feminism” and this was reflected in their support for books such as Woman as Family Doctor, which argued that women should have more control over their bodies, especially sexually. But after the war, this discourse disappeared. The authorities now had a single objective: to repopulate the nation, even if it meant restricting women’s autonomy. The analysis of the reception of Woman as Family Doctor thus provides a prism through which to shed light on a little-known page of French history: the history of “medical feminism” and the first women physicians of the Belle Époque, their impact on women’s emancipation, and the reasons for their oblivion.