BY DR. LIANA HWANG
On March 11 2021, we hope you will join us in celebrating the first ever Canadian Women Physicians Day. Currently, more than 40% of our country's physicians are women, and although that proportion is growing, we continue to face gender-based issues like income disparity and discrimination.
March 11 was the date of licensure of Dr Jennie Trout, the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada. Dr Trout was born in Scotland on April 21, 1841. She taught public school until a bout of illness inspired her to pursue a career in medicine. As Canadian medical schools did not accept female students at the time, Dr Trout attended the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1875. She returned to Toronto, where she obtained her medical license and opened her own practice, including a free dispensary for patients in financial need.
Dr Trout advocated tirelessly for medical education for women. When a group of male doctors planned to open a medical school for women in Toronto, she offered $10,000 with the condition that women be allowed to teach and form the majority of trustees on the board. Her offer was refused, and instead, she went on to help found the Women's Medical College in Kingston, Ontario.
Dr Trout's colleague, Dr Emily Stowe, had also applied to the Toronto School of Medicine but was denied entrance, with the school's Vice Principal stating: "The doors of the University are not open to women and I trust they never will be". In 1867, Dr. Stowe earned her medical degree from the New York Medical College for Women. She became the first woman to practice medicine in Canada, and the second woman granted a Canadian medical license.
National Physicians Day is celebrated in honour of Dr. Stowe, on her birthday, May 1. Dr Stowe's daughter, Dr Augusta Stowe-Gullen, became the first woman to graduate from a Canadian medical school in 1883.
On Canadian Women Physicians Day, we remember the trailblazing women who paved the way and the challenges that they overcame. We celebrate women physicians who are making a difference today, like Dr Nel Wieman, Canada's first female Indigenous psychiatrist; Dr Jane Philpott, the first Canadian doctor to be appointed federal Minister of Health; Dr Bonnie Henry,the first female Provincial Health Officer for British Columbia, and every woman in medicine who inspires us with their ongoing achievements, their unwavering commitment to their patients and their advocacy.