The
Medical Womens Federation aims to encourage and support Medical Students through
their training. As an organisation we do this is a variety of ways, including
providing financial assistance. Follow the links above for more information
or scroll down to read one student's account of what MWF has done for her.
How my Medical Women’s
Federation grant could have bought me 3 stone of sheep wool and still help
me with my medical degree
by Barbara Kuske, PhD 5th Year Medical Student, The
University of Edinburgh
A
bit of history
I am sure you know Dr Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. She was a female physician
who lived and practised in London. Following her retirement, she turned to
her passion for politics, becoming the mayor of Aldeburgh in Suffolk and passing
away at the age of 81 (Science Museum, 2010).
In
today’s terms this sounds like the brief portrait of a successful ‘career-woman’
with a life aimed at working for her community. This impression is changed
however by adding one single figure: 1836. Dr Anderson was born in Whitechapel
in 1836 and became the first female doctor to be registered in England following
an act passed in parliament in 1876 (Leeson & Gray, 1978:26). Together
with Dr Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female physician in the US, she was
one of the most prominent advocates of women in medicine.
During
her career she faced countless struggles. She earned her medical degree by
teaching herself French and qualifying at medical school in Paris after unsuccessful
attempts at entering university in Britain, being prevented from continuing
her nursing studies in Middlesex and qualifying with the Society of Apothecaries
before the society stopped accepting female candidates to take their examination.
Dr Anderson clearly had not only a passion for medicine but a tremendous amount
of determination and stamina. She was fortunate to have a family and a husband
who were not only liberal in their views on female education, but also supportive
of her goals in medicine.
While
I simply cannot and would not want to compare myself to someone like Elizabeth
Garrett Anderson, I nevertheless believe that although entering medicine as
a woman today is a very different story, some things remain unchanged. Unlike
Dr Anderson, my application to study medicine was never denied on the grounds
of being female, nor have I been barred from examinations. But like Dr Anderson,
I entered medicine as a mature student and I could not have come this far
without the extensive network of support. It is the support which is crucial
to the academic and personal success of any (female) medical student and qualified
physician today.
A contribution to my studies
I am currently in my fifth year at Edinburgh University Medical School and
one of only a handful of mature students in my course. The course is exciting
and captivating, at times challenging and demanding. There is no doubt that
going into medicine as a mature student was the right way for me. Like my
professional ancestors, a late entry allows for a passion to develop (I trained
in medical research first). I believe I appreciate the opportunities of the
learning environment more thoroughly and with a little more experience in
life,
other aspects of the course like patient communication are less nerve wracking.
One of the most difficult parts of the course has been the issue of funding.
Before starting the course, you plan carefully. You count what you have, you
arrange for additional loans and have long discussions with friends and family
about financial support. The course starts and things are going according
to plan. But as the course continues, the time of your day spent in medicine
–on the wards, with books- becomes longer and longer. You realize what
everyone has told you is true in that, there is increasingly less time for
paid work and your funds slowly run out. And there is a lesson to be learned,
it is crucial to recognise this as early as possible and do something about
it. The process can be detrimental. The worry about reaching the end of the
month financially can lay heavy on your shoulders and may prevent you from
concentrating on your studies with the obvious consequences.
This is where funds from organisations like the Medical Women’s Federation
can make an enormous difference. I received £100 each year in the last
two years of my studies. In 1876 when Dr Anderson was officially recognised
as a doctor, £100 would have been the equivalent of £2-1s-5d (2
pounds, 1 shilling and 5 old pence) which would have bought her 3 stone of
sheep wool or 1 quarter of wheat (National Archives, 2010). Today, £100
can pay for the majority of books for a year of the course or for gas and
electricity for about three month. But it’s much more than that.
Support
through a small grant means there is someone else who believes in you and
would like to contribute to you becoming a doctor. That is an enormous boost
and a source of motivation. Such grant can provide as much support in Dr Anderson’s
times as it can today considering that it prevents exactly what Dr Elizabeth
Blackwell so aptly describes: ‘A blank wall of social and professional
antagonism faces the woman physician that forms a situation of singular and
painful loneliness, leaving her without support, respect or professional counsel’
(Lewis, J.J. 2010).
Dr
Anderson and her colleagues were fighting hard for the support of female medical
professionals. With such grants I feel the MWF is contributing to ‘a
situation of unity, mutual support, respect and professional council’
for today’s female doctors. Thank you!
