VICDOC Autumn 2023 - Magazine - Page 8
E N QU I RY
BY WOMEN
+
FOR WOMEN
-
DR KATE DUNCAN
THERE IS NO POINT IN TRAINING
WOMEN IN MEDICINE,
ALL THEY DO IS GO OFF AND
GET MARRIED! COMPLETE
WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.
These remarks, coming
from a senior academic,
greeted me as a nervous
17-year-old first year
medical student at Monash.
He went on to point out
helpfully that most men
wouldn’t want to see a
woman doctor anyway. His
born-in-the-1920s view of
the world had obviously
never been troubled by the
idea that female patients
might not wish to see
male doctors.
When it was also pointed
out that I was selfishly
occupying a precious
medical school place that
might otherwise have been
awarded to some bright
young man who would
make a long and worthwhile
career in medicine, I
made two resolutions:
the first — that I would
8
AMA VI C TO RIA
work to the age of 65
before retiring, regardless
of marital developments
or reproductive adventures,
and the second — that I
would outlive him and the
others of his ilk. And I have
done precisely that.
My graduating class
was 19% female. This may
seem strange to presentday students, but it was
a higher proportion than
in many of the previous
years. Melbourne University
first admitted women as
medical students in 1890
and the statistics ran to
single digit percentages
for decades. This might
give some idea of the
background against which I
pursued my medical career.
What a relief it was when I
finally reached the clinical
years and discovered the
Queen Victoria Medical
Centre where, in the 1960s,
Monash had established
its Departments of
Obstetrics & Gynaecology
and Paediatrics.
The Queen Vic, as it
was affectionately known,
had been founded by the
Victorian Medical Women’s
Society (VWMS). Dr
Constance Stone and the
first six female graduates
from Melbourne University
formed the VMWS in 1886.
The new graduates, having
been grudgingly tolerated
as students, found very
few opportunities for
appointment to training
positions or hospital posts.
They took steps to solve
this by starting a clinic,
initially from a church
hall, then evolving into
a hospital, partly funded
by the Queen Victoria
Memorial ‘Shilling Fund’.
This medical service was
staffed entirely by women
doctors from its inception,
up to the 1950s when
male doctors were first
appointed to the staff.
Its motto: “Pro Feminis,
A Feminis” (By Women,
For Women).
The hospital occupied
various sites over its
history, starting in the
Wesley Church Hall and
including a building in
William Street which
subsequently became