The Fellowship of Women: Two Hundred Surgical Lives

This fascinating book was launched at the Women in Surgery (WinS) meeting of the Royal College of Surgeons on the 4th of Nov 2011 to commemorate the 100 years of the first woman surgeon that was allowed to take the exams and be admitted as a fellow of the RCS.

The author Mrs Ghilchik, a surgeon herself, recounts the freedom they claimed to work as independent professional women in society and tells of their friendships and cooperation with each other and how they overcome the obstacles in their path.

In 1861 Elizabeth Garret Anderson wrote to the RCS requesting permission to sit their examination. She was an established doctor performing operations but she was a woman and therefore denied permission. The door opened in “1911 when Dr Eleanor Davies-Colley joined her 2 younger brothers as fellows of the RACS. However, it took another 8 years before further women joined the College.

The I and II world wide wars conferred great opportunities on women to gain surgical experience. When denied positions they founded their own hospitals. These were formed and run by women doctors for women and children. They were set up with a commitment to treating the poorest among the community, giving the opportunity to women to be treated by members of their own sex. In addition these hospitals provided access to female medical students to the full spectrum of clinical work obtainable in the hospital settings at a time they were not allowed to enter medical schools. Some of these women went to India and Africa with missionary and humanitarian intent that benefited them with surgical experience.

The book comprises of a preface, 19 chapters, bibliography, appendices and index. The entry on the individual lives of the first 200 women surgeons while accurate and useful for reference purposes has additional unexpected information on their private lives, their discoveries, social contribution and peculiarities. Furthermore the chapters on surgical specialties give more insight to their contribution in these areas. The cover illustration is taken from a mural at the RCS of England with the kind permission of the artist Paul Cox.

Professor Harold Ellis who forwards the book says, “I can recommend this book to all surgeons, but, of course, it will be of a special interest, and indeed inspiration to women medical students and surgical trainees, who hope to receive the accolade of fellowship of the RCS.”