Clara Barton (1821-1912)
     Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910)                 Founder of the American Red Cross
First woman U.S. med school graduate                   photo courtesy Wikipedia
photo courtesy Nat'l Institutes of Health

    Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)                       Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)
 First to found nurses' training schools           Pioneered treatment of the mentally ill
         photo courtesy Wikipedia                             photo courtesy Wikipedia

                                  Dorothy Hansine Andersen (1901-1963)
                                  first physician to identify cystic fibrosis
                                            photo courtesy Wikipedia

Five women who changed your world: Apart from their extraordinary medical acumen, what did these five women share in common?

Was there something about the Anglo-American experience that fostered the dramatic achievements of women in the health sciences and related areas beginning in the 1800's and continuing right up to the present day?

By the end of the 19th century, women still comprised only about five per cent of the physicians in the United States.  The 1980's saw only a slight increase, to 17 per cent, according to one report. 

  "At the same time the percentage of women doctors was about 19 percent in West Germany and 20 percent in France. In Israel, however, about 32 percent of the total number of doctors and dentists were women," according to Women's International Center.

Do you think women are now realizing their potential in America and the U.K.?

[Views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of CompuServe, Netscape, any government, agency, or news organization.]