After analyzing and studying extensive information, primary sources, videos, and articles about women's social issues and women's equality in healthcare, there is no question that both of these movements have advanced dramatically. Although, not everything in the women's equality situations are ideal yet.
In social issues such as birth control, we have made leaps and bounds to provide women with these rights, yet this topic is still an ongoing issue in politics today and is argued about regarding health insurance, relating to abortion issues and planned parenthood, etc.
Women have made tremendous progress in advancing and excelling in the healthcare profession. The most obvious sign of progress in this area is the evident increase in number of female physicians over the years. After the feminist movement especially, the number of women who were applying to and attending medical school rose, hence increasing the number of female physicians in general. Although they have made some progress in these areas, issues come up now and again regarding gender discrimination in this career field. Referring to a previous post, a current issue is the large salary gap between female and male physicians, resulting from the only obvious reason, lingering sex discrimination for no specific reason. As the graph below shows, even though women have made incredible strides in medicine in general, the number of men enrolling in and applying to medical schools is still increasingly higher judging from this 2009 data.
In conclusion, women should be proud of the efforts they have made to come this far and make such drastic changes. The feminism movement sparked inspiration in women fight for their rights all over the world, and quite obviously in the medical career field and within social issues.
http://www.acpinternist.org/weekly/archives/2009/10/27/index.html
This source provides a timeline of significant events surrounding women in healthcare in the American Medical Association starting from the time of Elizabeth Blackwell's Medical School Graduation to today.
The timeline shows that a lot of the most well-remembered and meaningful advancing events in women in healthcare happened between the 1960's and 1980's, during the times of the Feminism movement. This indicates that the feminist movement was bringing about change for women's rights everywhere, including in healthcare.
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/about-ama/our-history/timelines-ama-history/women-physicians-ama.page?
The Case for Birth Control
By Margaret Sanger
OPLV
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/bl_sanger_1924.htm
Origin: This is a primary source in the form of an article, which was published originally in the Woman Citizen newspaper Volume 8 on February 23, 1924.
Purpose: The purpose of this article was to bring awareness to the people of the conflict over birth control and whether it should be available for women or not. This article written by Margaret Sanger argues that birth control should be demanded and available for all women, no matter what their circumstances, for many practical reasons that she argues for strongly.
Limitations: If we knew more about the laws that were in place during this time, the article would have more value. More details on the audience of the article would also be helpful.
Value: This article has significant value to a historian studying woman's rights because it outlines many of the concerns surrounding the woman's right to choose what she does with her own body. It does not necessarily fall under a certain woman's rights category, but it can be of great value when comparing our current birth control conflicts to the ones of the past.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mek5M6KctY
This video outlines the current issue of the significant salary gap between men and women physicians. It was posted in February 2011, which indicates that it is fairly recent. The video seems to imply that there is no explanation for this except for the obvious reason that women physicians are still being discriminated for their gender and men are still considered the superior and more qualified gender. This is a valuable source because it shows historians that although some advances may have been made in gender equality, there are still minor issues that are often overlooked that are quite evidently related to sex discrimination, especially in the healthcare profession.
OPVL
Elizabeth Blackwell's College Diploma
Origin: Elizabeth Blackwell's Geneva Medical College diploma
Glasgow University Archives
OPLV: Elizabeth Blackwell's Admission Letter into Medical School
Origin: This primary source is from Blackwell's letter of admission.
Blackwell Family Papers
Library of Congress, date unknown
OPLV
Women Physicians: Autobiography of Hannah Longshore
http://xdl.drexelmed.edu/viewer.php?object_id=2118&t=womanmd#
Origin: This autobiography came from the Papers of Longshore Family 1819-1902 and was handwritten around January 1, 1908 by Hannah Longshore.
Purpose: The purpose of this document was to outline the life of Hannah Longshore. It discusses the struggles of women on their path to becoming physicians and being accepted as medical professionals in society. It talks about the fact that men as physicians were more accepted than women were.
Limitations: This document is indeed limited due to the fact that it does not include any personal life details or events about Hannah Longshore, which is what the document is supposed to do. It only includes details about the suffering that women who aspired to be physicians had to endure. The document also does not include any details about the writer of the Autobiography herself so we are unaware of her stance on this issue.
Value: This source is valuable to a historian because it shows the real life struggles that the people in the movement for women physicians were faced with. It is significant because it mentions Rev. Henry D. Moore and how he was one of the few male supporters of the movement.
OPLV
Women Physicians: Medical Women
By Sophia Jex-Blake
http://xdl.drexelmed.edu/viewer.php?object_id=2673&t=womanmd
Origin: Medical Women, an article in an unknown publication. Published January 1, 1886.
Purpose: The purpose of this article was to inform a group of people that women were now able to attend colleges to become physicians. It listed a few colleges that were exceptions, but was a giant milestone as before this time, only men could go to college to work in the medical profession.
Limitation: The limitation of this source is that first of all, it does not list the publication/newspaper in which the article was published. This would have been an important piece of information in order to tell us as historians and readers who the audience was for this article. Another important piece of information would be a more accurate idea of whether or not this item of news was further publicized or made more well known to the general public. Without any additional information, we are unable to tell how "big of a deal" this really was.
Value: This is of significant value to a historian. It provides specific information for exactly what colleges were now accepting and not accepting women into their medical programs. This was a huge step in medicine for the women of the world, making this article evidence of a meaningful and exciting milestone in the progress of this career for women.
Letter to Stanley McCormick
By Margaret Sanger
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/filmmore/ps_letters.html
OPLV
Origin: This primary source is a letter written on October 27, 1950 by Margaret Sanger to Stanley McCorkmick, both women's rights activists who shared similar opinions on the issue of the availability of contraception to women.
Purpose: The purpose of this primary source was to discuss the details of the goals of Margaret Sanger, and how she strived for the final goal of having contraception more available to any women who may need it. The letters back and forth discussed the possibility of a grant in order to quicken the process of making contraception/"the pill" available.
Limitations: If we knew more about who Stanley McCormick was and what her stance was, it would be easier to follow the conversations between the two activists.
Value: This source has a decent amount of value to a historian who may be studying woman's rights and woman's social issues. It provides actual information on the facts and details of the movement and gives a look into the thoughts of Margaret Sanger.
