Throughout history, women’s opportunities to contribute to society have been stifled

by Kathleen Montgomery

She is a former Board member of Coast League.  After moving to Virginia last year, she joined the League of Women Voters of Prince William-Fauquier Area and was recently elected to the Board of the State of Virginia League.  The article first appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of International Women’s News, published by the International Alliance of Women.

Notably, a fundamental human right — the right to vote — was granted to women in most Western countries barely 100 years ago. Yet, in many countries and villages around the world, women have been — and still are — prevented from accessing higher education and from pursuing professional careers, especially in medicine, the law, and academia.  In the field of health care, this is especially ironic because women have long served as (unpaid) primary caregivers for family and community members, helping patients from birth to death and every stage of life in between.  

Fortunately, history also shows the perseverance of dedicated women, not content to be relegated to the sidelines, who paved the way for subsequent generations of women to participate fully as health care professionals.  Their pathbreaking contributions have influenced and improved health care delivery — not simply through direct patient care, but also through institution building, development of the professions of nursing and medicine, health care education, and health care research.  

Here is a snapshot of these women pioneers:  

Ann Preston (1813-1872) created a board of “lady managers” to fund and run a new women’s hospital in Pennsylvania, and she funded scholarships for female medical students.  She became the first female dean of a US medical school; as a professor of physiology and hygiene, she conducted research on the benefits of physical activity on women’s wellbeing, instead of a sedentary indoor lifestyle.  

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) volunteered as a nurse on the battlefield in the Crimean War and was known as “the Lady with the Lamp.”  She laid the foundation for nursing as a profession and established the first nursing school at St. Thomas Hospital in London, now part of King’s College London.

Clara Barton (1821-1912) was known as the “Angel of the Battlefield” for her work nursing soldiers during the American Civil War.  In 1881, inspired by her volunteer work in Europe with the International Committee of the Red Cross, she founded the American Red Cross.