Women in medicine
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How women took over the medical field throughout history
Since the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s, one of the most revolutionary new career opportunities, medicine, has been continually cited as evidence that gender roles are changing. The role of women in medicine didn’t start there; women have been doctors and medical professionals for centuries, but the field truly took off only fifty years ago. Now, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, women outnumber men in medical school. Here in St. Joseph, female doctors with unique lives, careers, and stories work every day to run practices, treat patients, and keep the community healthy.
Women have been practicing naturalistic medicine, herbalism, midwifery, and nursing for as long as those professions have existed. Although women were banned from medical school until the late 1800s, many ran their own small practices. Of course, there were exceptions to this rule: many women dressed as men to enter medical school, and a few rich women, including Italian physicist and anatomist Dr. Laura Bassi (1711-1778), were allowed education and appointed to teaching positions in the 1700s.
In the nineteenth century, female nurses went to war to treat wounded men and run army hospitals. One of the most famous war nurses, Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), revolutionized cleanliness and hygiene standards for hospitals during the Crimean War (1853-56). Around the same time, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910), a suffragist and abolitionist from Cincinnati, became the first woman to graduate from an American medical school in 1849. She and Nightingale opened the Women’s Medical College twenty years later.
Over the next two centuries, women have entered medical school en masse, especially after the women’s rights movement of the mid-twentieth century. Now, women slightly outnumber men in American medical schools, and many patients argue that female doctors are more compassionate, empathetic, and attentive during patient interactions than their male counterparts. Here in St. Joseph, women like Dr. Ami Shah, Dr. Sigita Alimenti, and Dr. Harpreet Judge have built careers in the medical field and found success.
As a pediatrician, Dr. Shah works with children every day. She enjoys helping to reassure them, treating their illnesses, and making them feel better. “It’s a fun job and [the kids] make me laugh, especially when they’re healthy and well... It’s fun to watch them as babies and then see them graduate from high school,” Dr. Shah said.
Dr. Shah was inspired by her father, who was also a pediatrician. She feels that the medical field allows her to help people and knows that being available to patients is one of the most important parts of the job.
Her career is time-consuming, and it can be tough to balance work and family life. “I have three boys, and being a mom to three boys and being there for all their activities, plus my demanding job could be difficult at times, but I have a great village of people who helped me,” Dr. Shah said.
Confidence is key when entering the medical field, especially for women. Dr. Shah encouraged women to set and reach their goals, saying “Never feel that you can’t do something. Any career that you choose, you should be able to apply yourself and understand that you can do it. There’s no field that a woman can’t go into. Never feel that you can’t do something because you’re a woman.”
“Never feel that you can’t do something. Any career that you choose, you should be able to apply yourself and understand that you can do it. There’s no field that a woman can’t go into. Never feel that you can’t do something because you’re a woman.”
Dr. Alimenti might be familiar to St. Joseph students who have visited her family medicine practice in the past. Dr. Alimenti co-owns the practice with other physicians, making her a small business owner as well as a woman in medicine. At first, Dr. Alimenti got into medicine because her parents wanted her to. After trying about three hours of dentistry, she decided that family medicine was her calling, although she’s grateful for the experience.
Although she knew as soon as her sophomore year of high school that medicine interested her, it wasn’t until six years after graduating from medical school that Dr. Alimenti realized how much she truly loved medicine. “I felt like I found where I belong,” she said.
To her, the best part of her job is the trust her patients give her. “People trust me with their life, their health, their secrets, their intimate thoughts.” However, there are difficult parts, as well. “Being wanted and needed all the time, it gets tiring, and it gets exhausting. But at the same time… that’s part of the job description.”
Dr. Alimenti’s advice for high school students is simple. “You need to expose yourself. Try to come out of your comfort zone… be a little vulnerable. Ask for help. Ask for direction.”
According to Dr. Alimenti, there is a shortage of physicians in the younger generation. She encouraged anyone considering a medical career to try it, saying “If you are really looking for a meaning that you can sustain in the long term, if you are looking for a place where you can shine, and where you can be extremely helpful to humanity, this is where it is… You’ll work very hard if you get into medicine, but you will be rewarded.”
Running a practice isn’t the only way to be a successful doctor. Dr. Judge works as a radiologist, a specialist in using technology like X-rays and MRIs to diagnose and treat patients. She felt called to the profession because it was a way to give back to her community. The best part of working in the medical field is the “feeling of satisfaction when you help someone get better,” and that “You don’t have to compromise your conscience while making your livelihood,” Dr. Judge said.
However, Dr. Judge also said that working as a doctor can take over your life. She struggled with having two children during residency and said she didn’t have “too much time to do other things.” However, she said “Once you get started, and pick a path, you can just go with the flow. I joined an existing practice, so I didn’t have to build the practice from scratch.”
Dr. Judge also encouraged students to think about medicine, saying “I think medicine is a great field for people who are compassionate and are willing to work hard. It’s a long journey but very rewarding at the end.”
Female students at SJHS are also ready to continue breaking ground in the medical field. Through the school’s nursing program and science classes, as well as CTEs, girls are already preparing for their future careers in medicine.
For example, Ellie Haunhorst, 11, hopes to become a sports medicine physician, working with a team of athletes or owning her own practice. First, she wants to treat patients as a pediatrician to gain the credentials necessary to go into sports medicine. “I enjoy helping people, especially younger people. I can relate to athletes with sports injuries and understand how they happen… I love science, especially biology, and sports,” Ellie said.
Ellie is inspired by local doctors and pediatricians. “I talked a lot with Dr. Trigger from Great Lakes Sports Medicine & Concussion Clinic and his job sounded really interesting and pretty cool. As for the pediatrician part, Dr. Shah has always been so amazing, and I hope to be as good as her, or even her father,” Ellie said.
Madison Scott, 12, plans to become a nurse and hopes to eventually work on the labor and delivery floor of a hospital. “There are many aspects of this job that interest me. However, the biggest for me would have to be the opportunity to impact lives on a daily basis,” Madison said.
Nursing is a medical career that can be overlooked, but their job is crucial to keep hospitals running and patients healthy. Madison feels called to the profession, saying, “Within the last couple of years I have discovered a strong desire within myself to strive for selflessness.”
Not every student has decided exactly what profession they want to take on. For example, Mei Mei Saggau Drotos, 9, knows she wants to enter medicine, but hasn’t decided on anything specific. “This career interests me because I have always found the human body to be interesting and I am not grossed out by blood. I also want to help other people and I think that choosing a medical career pathway would help me in doing so,“ Mei Mei said.
Inspired by her family, Mei Mei says that she plans to “keep good grades and work on community service. I want to be able to get into a good college with a medical school and start my career from there.”
The world has changed drastically from a time when women weren’t even allowed to enroll in medical school. Now, women in St. Joseph and around the world are saving lives and making critical strides in medical research. SJHS girls are set to be the next generation of inspiring and successful women in the medical field.