EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18265, 26 December 1924, Page 2

EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN.

FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS. A NOTABLE THANKSGIVING SERVICE. (TBOH OUB OWN COEBESPOITDEST.)

LONDON, October 30

Fifty years ago there were only two women on the Medical Register of Great Britain, and the doors by which they had entered the profession were barred against any who might try to follow. To-day the Medical Register contains the names of well over two thousand women. Among the most important factors contributing to the evolution that the last half century has seen was the founding of the London School of Medicine for Women in 1874. A nobly-planned and magnificently rendered ' senvice of thanksgiving in conenxion with the jubilee of the opening of the school was held on Saturday afternoon at St. Paul's Cathedral. The note of the service was that of grateful remembrance of the women who had secured for their sex admission to the profession of medicine fifty years and more ago, combined with hope and courage for the future. The vast congregation which filled the whole floor-space of the Cathedral, as well as the galleries, was by no means restricted to women, but included many men, most of whom bore medals and decorations which testified to their work in the military hospitals. Women of every career and calling had corae in recognition of the fact that with the opening of the medical profession all other barriers to women had been broken down. Mrs Helena Normanton in wig and gown represented the Bar, and accountancy a.nd the telephone service, finance and commerce, art and literature, all sent representatives. The students of the London School of Medicine undertook the duties of stewards, and made a dignified group in the black skirts and white silk blouses which tfiey wore beneath their academic caps and gowns.

The words of the" commemoration of the women pioneers in medicine, spoken by the Archdeacon of London, ran: "Through the ages there have heen women in spirit born before their time; They had visions and faith, and by their toil and sacrifice and courage, opportunities for women in training, work, and service lfave been vxn.

"Three pioneers opened the doors oF medicine to women : Elizabeth Blackwell. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, and Sonhia Jex Blake. ~" "With love and reverence our hearts turn to them." The Procession.

At the opening of the service a procession representing the links which bind the past to the present generation of women pioneers was formed, and moved up the nave. It was headed by Miss V. Smallpiece (senior student of the London School of Medicine for Women), Miss G. Wilkins (vice-presi-dent of the hospital section of the school) and Miss E. Clarke (vice-president of the school). After them came those who had left their student days behind, somo in scarlet academic robes, others in gowns. Among these were Miss Penelope Lawrence (founder of Roedean School for Girls) and Miss Dove (founder of Wycombe Abbey), the two first schools for girls to be started on public school lines.

Near by walked Dr. Mary Scharlieb (president of the school), Mrs Henry Fawcett (the veteran leader of the Women's Suffrage Movement), and a sister of the late Dr. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, walking beside her niece, Dr. Louisa Garrett Anderson. The nearest surviving relatives of Dr. Sophia JexBlake also walked near the head of the procession. They were two nieces, Miss Henrietta Jcx-Blake (principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford) and Miss Katherinc Jcx-Blake, a former head of Girton College, Cambridge.

Ministry of Healing. The Bishop of Lichfield, who preached, took as his text, "I beseech you that ye •walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." He said it was impossible to isolate the claim of women to their place in the medical profession from the whole of the great movement for the emancipation of women, which had been one of the most significant facts in the history of our time. The true meaning of the movement was that women believed it to be their duty to make their own contribution to the life of mankind, which, when combined with man 'a contribution, would usher in a higher life for the race. If this were remembered, how impossible it was to indulge in the futilities of sex antagonism. Doubtless there were some departments of life for which men were specially qualified, and others for which women had greater gifts. But the regions for co-operation were far more numerous, and none was greater than the ministry of healing. Doctors and nurses were entrusted with a part of Christ's life work. It was strange that men should ever have imagined that there was a conflict betwen religion and science. Heal science and real religion were true friends. In the fire of war the work of women surgeons and physicians, as of the nurses, came out pure gold. In Africa, in India, and all parts of the East, women doctors had rendered wonderful service in connexion with Christian missions. Seven of the twenty women doctors on the staff of the Church Missionary Society had been trained at the London School. To the three pioneers whpsc names had just been proclaimed, memorials were to be set up in that school by the institution of three professorial chairs. What was a romance to us was a grim, heart-breaking conflict to them. But they won through.

Dean Inge on Women's Work. Dean Inge proposed the toast of "Women's Work" at a dinner at the Guildhall on the previous evening. He referred at the outset to the splendid achievements of women during the war. They had honourably and amply earned the rights of citizenship which had been given to them, almost without a dissentient voice. Women were nowadays not only free to vote, but to earn their living in almost every calling that was open to men. There were one or two exceptions, however. Women were not yet admitted to the ministry of the Church, and there was not, so far, any great demand that that privelege should be extended to them. For his own part, he thought it was very desirable that women should be admitted to the ministry, for which many of them were admirably qualified. As to the rather frivolous argument that the clergy often regretted the disparity of the sexes in Church, he ventured to suggest that if they had an attractive vicaress in the pulpit it would go far to redress that state of affairs. (Laughter.) In view of the large number of people who sought the advice of the clergy, he considered it was most desirable that women should advise the women, and men the men. His own experience was that there was something really unnatural and unwholesome in a woman baring her conscience and her heart to a. man. He seriously suggested that it would be a very good thing if there were women qualified to hear the confessions of women who were in trouble regarding their souls. Some people said

that -women would never confess to women, but he did not think that was true. A Stupid Blonder. In regard to the question of women serving on juries, a judge once told him that the percentage of convictions had more or less gone up since women began to act in that capacity. •He much regretted that the age at which the vote could be exercised for both sexes had been fixed for 21 years instead of 25. He thought that was one of the most stupid blunders that had ever been made. In literature women had long held their own, especially in fiction and in reminiscences. The art of relieving suffering seemed to come naturally to women, and brought out the best side of their nature. It was the literal truth that the man was unhappy who, when he was sick or weary, had no woman by his side. He could not speak from personal knowledge about the skill of women in the medical profession. He was ashamed to say that he had reached the age of 65 years without hardly ever consulting a doctor. In some operations the small and delicato hands of women could have -\ distinct advantage over men's. At the samo time, they must forgive him for anying, as a mere man, that the highest and host work ofe a woman was that of wife and mother, and when he looked at the troop of young women he saw making their way into that hall ho hoped they were not all vowed to celibacy,

Students from the Whole Umpire. Tho prosont position of the London School of Medicine was discussed in an intorviow by Miss L. B. AldrichBlako, Dean of tho School. "Although tho entry of now students for the 1923-24 session," she said, "was only forty-thrco, as compared with sixty-four in 1914, we have no fear that this dcclino in numbers indicates any lossening in the attraction of medicine ns a profession for women. It is precisely because women proved their capabilities in medicine before and during tho war that there was so great a domand for their services in the years of struggle. The Bharp reaction that lias followed the sudden expansion of the abnormal war years is not confined to women medical students in particular or to medical students generally, but is common to all professions and trades on which there was a special domand while the country was at war. Our students come, not from London and tho provinces alone, but from the Empire and the world. Last year 40 per cent, were from London and its neighbourhood; in the remaining 60 per cent., together with studerts from all parts of the provinces, were representatives of no fewer than 18 different countries. The roll of former students at the end of the summer session of 1023 the names of 940 women."