International Women's Day 2025 Lecture: Women in Early Modern Medicine [Online]
UCL EGA Institute for Women’s Health are delighted to host a selection of free events to celebrate International Women's Day 2025
International Women's Day 2025 Lecture: Women in Early Modern Medicine [Online]
05 Mar 2025, 13:00 – 14:00
International Women’s Day Online Lunchtime Lecture with Penny James
“Hidden in Plain Sight: Women in Early Modern Medicine”
Despite being formally excluded from the medical profession until the end of the nineteenth century, early modern women carried out a range medical work including midwifery and dispensing remedies to the sick.
This presentation will introduce new findings from a survey of more than 7000 medical texts from the Royal College of Physicians Library published before 1714 to reveal women’s use of medical texts – as readers, authors, and publishers – throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth century.
The evidence from these books has been hidden in plain sight as traditional library cataloguing procedures were more likely to include provenance information about men than about women. This presentation is one part of an effort to reintroduce these women to the historical record.
This is an online-only event and pre-booking is essential.
This event will be recorded.
Please follow the Zoom Link below to join this event:
https://ucl.zoom.us/j/97404084953
The event will begin promptly at 13.00 GMT
Penny James
Penny James has a clinical background in obstetrics and gynaecology, and a PhD which focused on maternal immunity and preterm birth. She is currently working on a London Arts and Humanities Partnership (AHRC) project using early (pre-1714) printed material in the rare book collection at the Royal College of Physicians. The project aim is to identify evidence of women’s ownership of Tudor and Stuart medical knowledge.
Further information
Ticketing
Ticketed
Cost
Free
Open to
All
Availability
Yes