Suffering from burn out - you think kids today are rowdy - she applied to study medicine at the Toronto School of Medicine, which was associated with the University of Toronto. This institution was located in Toronto.

 

(Was the University of Toronto evil for not letting women study there?)

 

 

Realizing that Canada still wasn’t ready for new-fangled women doctors, she ended up studying medicine at the New York Medical College for Women. This institution was located in New York. She received her degree in 1867.

 

Upon graduating she returned to Toronto to set up her practice without procuring a professional license. In other words she was practicing medicine illegally. In 1879 she was charged and stood trial for performing an illegal abortion. After a lengthy trial she was acquitted.

 

In 1870 the University of Toronto finally caught up to the ‘modern’ age and allowed both Emily Stowe and Jenny Trout to attend classes. This may have been the first meeting between these two, and it wasn’t a happy one. They became bitter rivals.

 

(Could Jenny Trout beat up Emily Stowe?)

 

Jenny Trout and Emily received their degrees at the same time. Even though they were both women pioneers in the field of Canadian medicine, like most professional women they couldn’t agree on anything and were each others own worst enemy. Jenny believed that there should be a school specifically for women to study medicine, while Emily believed that equality should rule and women should acquire the same qualifications from the same schools as men did.The rivalry continues on to this day. Check out this video:

 

(Did Jenny Trout finance this video?)

 

What this video tells us is that Jenny Trout was the first woman to study medicine in Canada, with no mention of Emily Stowe. What I believe happened, based on absolutely no facts, is that Jenny Trout set aside an account to be used at an unspecified future date to finance a campaign of dis-information proclaiming her as the first woman to study medicine, while denying Emily Stowe’s place in history.

 

Could someone named Jenny have been this diabolical?

 

In 1880 the College of Physicians and Surgeons finally recognized Emily Stowe’s skills and grated her a license to legally practice her trade.

 

Stowe is perhaps best known for her contributions to the enfranchisement of women and as a fighter for equal rights. She devoted herself to promoting the intellectual advancement of women, improving the political access of women, as well as the right for women to form girl-bands that produce really crappy pop music.

 

She fought hard to win the vote for women. Look where that got us:

(Are women responsible for electing Prime Minister Stephen Harper?)

 

Emily Stowe is obviously a very important figure in Canadian History. Why don’t Canadians know more about her? The other night I was talking with my sister, who is a homeopathic doctor, as was Emily Stowe, and she hadn’t heard of her. This surprised me as I’ve always considered my sister to be knowledgeable about the women’s rights movement. What does this say about the way that Canadians treat our heroes?

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