Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was Italy’s first female physician and a children’s education pioneer. Montessori endured years of male hostility to finally graduate in 1896 with high honors from the University of Rome. Her work with disabled children informed her innovative approach to learning, which emphasized individuality and autonomy, sensory exploration and task-oriented play. Montessori …
Daughter to Emmeline, sister to Christabel, Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (English, 1882-1960) was perhaps the most reserved—though no less dedicated—member of the Women’s Social and Political Union’s founding family. Pankhurst designed banners, posters, and other promotional materials for the militant WSPU, but eventually left, opting to provide practical help to women by instituting a daycare, a …
A Quaker teacher, Dr. Alice Bunker Stockham (1833-1912) earned obstetrics and gynecology degrees from two medical colleges, one specializing in homeopathy, and one in “eclectic” medicine (herbalism). While operating a clinic and a free kindergarten, Stockham embraced suffrage and the nonviolent philosophies of iconic writers like Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy Stockham’s Tokology (Greek for “obstetrics”), which …
Dr. Rachel Brooks Gleason (1820-1905) was a largely self-taught physician who assisted her husband, Dr. Silas O. Gleason, in allopathic medicine. The couple successfully appealed for women’s admission to Central Medical College, and, in 1851, Gleason became the fourth American female medical doctor. Both her daughter and her sister would also become physicians. Gleason went …
