The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine

“The trustees of the newborn New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children, thirteen men and four women, had rejected the suggestion that one of these female physicians should tell her own story that day, fearing she might sound off-puttingly like an agitator for women's rights.”

This quote shows the paradox faced by female professionals in the 19th century whose accomplishments existed within a framework still dominated by male authority and conservative views. Even in a moment celebrating women’s achievements, there was a reluctance to allow women to speak for themselves.

“Elizabeth preferred solitude to socializing anyway. Her voracious reading juxtaposed Shakespeare and Pilgrim's Progress with the independent heroines of novels by Maria Edgeworth and Madame de Staël. Books were a refuge from her own ineptitude in company.”

Elizabeth's tendency to prefer solitude and intellectual pursuits over social interactions is a constant throughout her entire life. The heroines she admired in novels also reflect her aspirations for autonomy and intellectual fulfillment, which ultimately led her to break barriers in the medical field.

“She had never wanted to be a man—she wanted, as a woman, to enjoy the same level of respect and freedom men took for granted.”

This quote links to The Struggle for Gender Equality in the 19th Century and summarizes the main reason why Elizabeth was determined to pursue medicine. She wanted to achieve equality on her own terms, not by adopting male attributes or disguising herself as a man, but by being recognized as a capable and accomplished woman in her own right.