Medical school Quote by Rachel Clarke
““Women, as we know, used to be judged incapable of medicine. That changed in 1876, when, after a tenacious fight led by Britain’s first female doctor, Elizabeth Garret Anderson, the law was changed to prohibit women’s exclusion from medical schools. Now, more than 140 years later, female medical students outnumber men. Yet, according to Lawson, our predisposition to avoid antisocial hours and put family before career means we are more””
About This Quote
Historical barriers once excluded women from medicine; now they dominate, yet societal expectations still influence career choices.
In simple terms: Women now lead in medicine despite past bans.
Key Takeaway
Challenge lingering gender expectations.
Themes
medicine
gender equality
history
career
social norms
Mood
optimistic
critical
Type
social
historical
When to use this quote
- medical school admissions
- career counseling
- policy advocacy
- women’s health conferences
- academic research
Key Concepts
women’s rights
professional bias
cultural expectations
Questions to Reflect On
- How can we further support women in medicine?
- What biases still affect career decisions?
A Different Perspective
Progress may be uneven across regions and specialties.
![“Nancy [Kassebaum] and I worked on a women's health agenda when I first came. Women were not included in the protocols at NIH, the famous study, 'take an aspirin a day, keep the doctor, you know, a heart attack away.' It was done on ten thousand male medical students.” quote by Barbara Mikulski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/200/barbara-mikulski-8601_agendas_nancy-kassebaum-and-i-worked-on-a-women_275749.jpg)
