First Female Doctors: Who Are The Three Pioneering Physicians In Kangana Ranaut's Tweet?

First Female Doctors: Here's everything you should know about the first female licensed doctors from India, Syria and Japan.

Kangana Ranaut loves to be in the news. Her recent tweet, in which she appreciated the first female licensed doctors from India, Syria and Japan also shammed the women "who wear torn American jeans and rags like blouses" as she feels it upholds "nothing but American marketing".

Appreciation tweet for ancient women who not only represented their individuality but their entire civilisation,cultures and nations. Today if such achievers are to be clicked they will all wear torn American jeans n rags like blouses,representing nothing but American marketing. pic.twitter.com/0k2yjUuF07

— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) March 3, 2021

Of course, it is important not to forget one's roots, but is it justified to judge and ridicule someone only because they chose to wear Western attire? In the era of globalisation, the cultures of various regions have welcomed and exchanged ideas, values, materials, art and various other elements (not taking cultural appropriation into account in this case). So, does adapting another culture's aspects mean that a person has forgotten their own? Does one's 'choice of clothing' make them less inspirational?

Nevertheless, the power of the content Kangana shared is still as intact as it was before her tweet. These three women not only made their country, but also the womankind proud. They empowered by shattering the glass ceiling and pioneering the legacy for other women who have shined bright in the medical field since then and till now. Their achievement would have still "represented their individuality" and remarkability, had they decided to get clicked in any sort of attire.

The three women were students at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. The photo was taken at a Dean’s reception in 1885, back when women in the US still couldn’t vote, nor were they encouraged to pursue higher education.

Here's what you need to know about the three medical pioneers in Kangana's tweet:

Anandiben Joshi

Anandibai Joshi was the first female Indian physician who completed her studies in Western Medicine from the United States. She, along with Kadambini Ganguly, started a rich and inspiring legacy of women joining the field of medicine. Although born as ‘Yamuna’, her husband Gopalrao Joshi gave her the name 'Anandi'. Married off at the age of nine, Anandibai’s husband was instrumental in her journey of pursuing higher education.

She lost her newborn child at the age of 14 due to lack of medical care. Henceforth, she chose to pursue medicine with the help of her husband who was a progressive thinker. He whole-heartedly supported her education and sent her to America with a missionary in Philadelphia.

She completed her degree from Women’s Medical College in Pennsylvania at the age of 19. Unfortunately, she never got the chance to practice medicine owing to her death at the age of 21. Nevertheless, her story continues to inspire many young women not only in India, but across the globe.

Keiko Okami

Keiko Okami was the first woman in Japan to obtain a degree in Western medicine from a Western University, i.e. Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, USA. She was born in 1858 in Aomori Prefecture, and was named as Nishida Keiko. She graduated from the Yokohama Kyoritsu Girls' School in 1878, and then studied English at the Sakurai Girls' School.

At the age of 25, she married an art teacher and they traveled to the United States. She completed her medical studies in the US, with aid from the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church. After four years of study, she graduated in 1889.

She returned to Japan after her studies and worked at the Jikei Hospital. However, she resigned from the hospital after Emperor Meiji reportedly refused her treatment because she was a woman. She then opened her own clinic, operating out of her home in Minato.

The Japanese medical pioneer worked in gynecology and also treated patients of tuberculosis. After stopping her practice, she served as the Vice-Principal of Shoei Girls' school. Furthermore, she also taught anatomy to nurses.

In 1897, she, along with her friend, opened a hospital for sick women, as well as a school of nursing in the same premises. However, the hospital closed after nine years because of limited patients, mostly limited to foreign female preachers. She eventually retired due to breast cancer. 

Sabat Islambouli

Sabat M. Islambouli, with name variations like Sabat Islambooly, Tabat Islambouly, Tabat Istanbuli, Thabat Islambooly, was one of the first Kurdish female physicians from Syria. She was born to a Kurdish-Jewish family.

She graduated from WMC, Pennsylvania, with her medical degree in 1890.

It is believed that Sabat went back to Damascus after she graduated, and then to Cairo in 1919, according to the college's alumnae list. She reportedly died in 1941.

The picture of the three female pioneer doctors was first shared by Jaipreet Virdi-Dhesi, a Ph.D. student who uploaded the photograph on her blog back in 2014. By all accounts, she came across the picture while researching on ear surgery during the 19th century in the online archives of Drexel University College of Medicine.

Views expressed are author's own.

Feature Image Credits: Jaipreet Virdi-Deshi