Parents were
unhappy with decision
to be a nurse because
it wasn't considered a
respectable profession
Trained for 3
months in
Germany
Came back to UK and
ran hospital for rich
women but wasn't happy
Crimean War (1854-56)
100,000 British
soldiers killed/injured
but many more fell ill
through typhus and
other diseases
Florence
was asked to
take control
of nursing in
Scutari
Took 38
nurses
with her
Horrified at conditions
No
toilets
No cleaning basins,
soaps, mops, towels
or cleaning materials
Wrote to government
describing conditions
and requesting what
she needed (i.e.
cleaning materials)
Hired 200
builders to
rebuild part
of a ward
Some doctors
objected to being
ordered around by a
nurse but Florence
persevered
Reduced
death rate from
40% to 2%
Back in Britain
Heralded as 'Lady
with the Lamp'
National hero
Wrote a book
called 'Notes on
Nursing' to tell the
government how to
improve things
Raised £44,000 to set
up Britain's first nurse
training school
Also published 'Notes
on Hospitals' which
introduced new ideas
about hospital design
Well-ventilated,
open, spacious
Mistaken idea about miasma but right concept
Controversy
She refused to
believe in the Germ
Theory and taught her
nurses about miasma
She may not have
actually improved
conditions in Scutari
However she began to
change the image of
nursing
She had the right
idea about hospital
improvements
Doctors
Sophia
Jex-Blake
Life
Born to
physician
father with
traditional
views on
women's
education
Convinced to
allow to go to
university to
become a
maths tutor
1869 - convinced Edinburgh
University to allow her to learn
to be a doctor
However they said that
they couldn't provide a
woman with a degree
Achievements
Took the university
to court and lost
Took her case to parliament and in 1875, a
law was passed that meant women could
not be restricted from gaining medical
qualifications on grounds of gender
Despite this, she qualified as
a doctor in Ireland after gaining
her degree in Switzerland
In 1874, she co-founded the London
School of 'Medicine for Women'
Elizabeth Garret Anderson
was also a co-founder
Limitations on her success
Father with traditional views
Sexism and
attitude
toward women
Men objecting to
her presence at the
university
Elizabeth Garrett
Anderson
Couldn't get on any
courses at university
Some men agreed
to tutor her privately
and she passed the
Apothecaries exam
in 1865
She was refused a
license but won a court
appeal and was given one
However, they refused to
pass any other students
who studied privately
1869 - qualified
abroad in Paris and
achieved top grades
Got on the Medical
Register on return to Britain
Showed how and
inspired people to
do the same
Elizabeth Hoggon (1870)
Elizabeth
Walker (1872)
Continued limitations
Woman and would
not have been very
well respected
Very long,
arduous process
Women still
couldn't go to
university in
Britain
1874 -
co-founded
London School
of Medicine for
Women
Attitudes in the 1850s
People didn't think that
women had the ability
1858 - General Medical Act,
everyone had to put their
names on General Medical
Register in order to practise
Only one woman,
Elizabeth Blackwell,
in 1858
Qualified in USA
English universities wouldn't
accept them so they couldn't
qualify