At University, in Hospital, in a Mortuary…Gabriela Zapolska and Maria Szeliga on Practising Medicine by Women

Abstract

The paper presents the question of the attitude that Gabriela Zapolska and Maria Szeliga had towards the education of women at university. The author discusses the texts written by the two writers from 1889: Zapolska’s articles: W sprawie emancypacji and Paniom emancypantkom… odpowiedź, released in “Kurier Warszawski”, and Szeliga’s novel Na przebój. The release of these texts was preceded by obtaining the degree of Doctor of Medicine by the 21-year-old Caroline Schultze from Warsaw. She had received the title from the University of Sorbonne in Paris in 1888 after writing the dissertation Kobieta-lekarz w XIX wieku, which was noted by press in Poland and abroad. The debate over Schultze’s dissertation became heated, among other reasons due to her opponent, the famous authority in the field of neurology, Jean-Martin Charcot, who referred to gender stereotypes and questioned the ability of women to perform the job of a doctor. Zapolska did not support the idea of university education of women and undermined the honesty of its intentions. Szeliga defended female higher education. In the novel Na przebój she presented the process of women entering the medical profession. In order to contradict her opponents’ argument about women’s lack of aptitude to practise medicine, which allegedly results from their nature, she took her character, Natalia Dortmuntówna, a Pole studying in Paris, to the hospital and a mortuary, emphasising the role of practical preparation for the profession.