Ogino Ginko

DOCTOR
FIRST female doctor in Japan
Inspired to become a doctor when her husband gave her gonorrhea and her treatment at the hands of male doctors was invasive and humiliating
Across Japan, women would often avoid going to doctors because they didn't want a man seeing them naked
Although no medical schools were open to women, she sought help from the president of the Red Cross Society and feminist leaders to get accepted to Kojuin, a school at Koju Hospital
Faced severe harassment from her classmates and received no support from the administration or her family
Graduated in 1882, although she still couldn't practice medicine because she had to pass two state licensing examinations, neither of which women were allowed to take
She managed to convince the head of the licensing bureau that there was historical precedent, and he opened up the exams to women
Opened the Ogino Hospital in Yushima, specializing in obstetrics and gynecology
Moved to Hokkaido with her second husband and started her own private practice
Also a member of the Tokyo Women's Reform Society, which fought against restrictive traditions placed on women, such as staying silent in front of men, and prostituting themselves to earn money for their family
Ginkogino, minor planet #10526, is named after her

Public Domain Photo, via Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography: Maggs, Sam. Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History. Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2016. Print.

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