Surgeons and barber-surgeons were often organized into guilds, they could hold out longer against the pressures of licensure. If they were not accused of malpractice, then women were considered "witches" by both clerical and civil authorities. In many occasions, women had to fight against accusation of illegal practice done by males, putting into question their motives. Licensure began to require clerical vows for which women were ineligible, and healing as a profession became male-dominated. Once universities established faculties of medicine during the thirteenth century, women were excluded from advanced medical education. Society in the Middle Ages limited women's role as physician. Women also engaged in midwifery and healing arts without having their activities recorded in written records, and practiced in rural areas or where there was little access to medical care. The names of 24 women described as surgeons in Naples, Italy between 12 have been recorded, and references have been found to 15 women practitioners, most of them Jewish and none described as midwives, in Frankfurt, Germany between 13. Women healers treated most patients, not limiting themselves to treating solely women. They worked as herbalists, midwives, surgeons, barber-surgeons, nurses, and traditional empirics. Women occupied select ranks of medical personnel during the period. Women in the Middle Ages participated in healing techniques and several capacities in medicine and medical education. She is considered Germany's first female physician. An example is the German abbess Hildegard of Bingen, whose prolific writings include treatments of various scientific subjects, including medicine, botany and natural history ( c. Hildegard of Bingen, a Medieval German abbess who wrote Causae et Curae, 1175.ĭuring the Middle Ages, convents were a centralized place of education for women, and some of these communities provided opportunities for women to contribute to scholarly research. She credited much of her writings to the ideologies of Hippocrates. Her book, On the Diseases and Cures of Women, was the oldest medical book written by a female and was referenced by many other female physicians. Metrodora was a physician and generally regarded as the first female medical writer. Agnodice was the first female physician to practice legally in 4th century BC Athens. Agamede was cited by Homer as a healer in ancient Greece before the Trojan War. Ubartum lived around 2050 BC in Mesopotamia and came from a family of several physicians.
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An Egyptian of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Peseshet, described in an inscription as "lady overseer of the female physicians", is the earliest woman named in the history of science. The involvement of women in the field of medicine has been recorded in several early civilizations. 6.3 Pioneering women in early modern medicine.6.2 Historical hospitals with significant female involvement.5 Competition between midwifery and obstetrics.