Women and the practice and teaching of medicine in Bologna in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Abstract

When Bologna's political and intellectual elites had control over the university and associated institutions during the eighteenth century, a few women were allowed to participate in medical fields not typically associated with their gender. Laura Bassi could occasionally teach and debate on anatomy at the university, and the practical anatomist Anna Morandi Manzolini could make contributions to the research and teaching of anatomy. With the arrival of the French in Bologna in 1796, the control of the university and associated institutions passed from the local elite to the Ministry of Public Instruction in Milan. This article shows that a few women were awarded degrees in medicine, surgery, and pharmacy from the University of Bologna when the French were in control-however, these women, unlike Bassi and Morandi, were directed to fields deemed appropriate to their gender, such as the training of midwives, or apothecary practice within female institutions.