How far we’ve come with women and medicine (and how far we have to go)
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I love reading two books at once, and bringing them into conversation with each other. I don’t always choose pairings deliberately; with this pairing it was simply because they arrived at the same time. Together, they made for a powerful read about women and health.
“The Doctors Blackwell: How two pioneering sisters brought medicine to women and women to medicine” (2021) by Janice P Nimura is a remarkable immersion into the history of medical education, as well as the place of women therein. It is incredibly well-researched, and the author’s thick description of everything from classrooms to the experience of early rail travel, bring the story to life around the reader. It is also a great reminder of just how far we’ve come…
Compare this with “Pain and Prejudice: A call to arms for women and their bodies” (2020) by Gabrielle Jackson. It is a testament to just how far we have to go to overcome cultural assumptions about women, pain and hysteria that continue to shape medical practice, funding and outcomes today. The story is a powerful one, and while a few chapters near the end feel a bit bogged-down by data, these data deserve to be shared. How far we still have to go to ensure our medical systems serve women as well as they have the potential to do.
