Emily Howard Stowe (; May 1, 1831 – April 30, 1903) was a Canadian physician who was the first female physician to practise in Canada, the second licensed female physician in Canada and an activist for women's rights and suffrage.

Education

Stowe was raised in a household that valued education for girls. Her father, Solomon Jennings, converted to Methodism, but her mother, Hannah Howard Jennings, had been educated at a Quaker seminary in the United States and raised Stowe and her five sisters according to Quaker principles. Quaker communities encouraged women to read, learn, and participate in public life. Hannah Jennings educated her daughters at home and also taught them practical skills, including the use of herbal remedies and other forms of household healing. She entered the program in November 1853, aged 22, and graduated the following year with first-class honours. In 1865, at the age of 34, Stowe applied to the Toronto School of Medicine but was refused admission because she was a woman. Stowe later recalled replying that she would make it "the business of my life" to see those doors opened so that women would have the same opportunities as men. on Richmond Street, Though the coroner's jury ruled that Lovell had poisoned herself, Stowe was charged with performing a medical abortion. Stowe was acquitted after a short trial during which she gained public support.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario granted Stowe a licence to practise medicine on July 16, 1880, based on her experience since 1850,

Her daughter, Augusta Stowe-Gullen, was the first woman to earn a medical degree in Canada.

Women's rights

While studying medicine in New York, Stowe met with Susan B. Anthony and witnessed the divisions within the American women's suffrage movement. Stowe also attended a women's club meeting in Cleveland, Ohio. Stowe adopted a gradualist strategy which she brought back to her work in Canada. the country's first women's medical school.

As is true for many suffragists, a tension existed between Stowe's commitment to fellow women and class loyalty. In an episode that may demonstrate the dominance of the latter, Stowe broke the bond of doctor-patient confidentiality by disclosing the abortion request of a patient, Sara Ann Lovell, a domestic servant, to her employer. (See Abortion trial of Emily Stowe.) Stowe, however, sharply criticized the National Policy economic program in 1892. She believed that it would not help working-class Canadians and was instead a corrupt deal on behalf of major businesses.

After breaking her hip at the Columbian Exposition's Women's Congress in 1893, Stowe retired from medicine. In 1896, Emily and her daughter Augusta participated in an all-female "mock parliament," in which the women considered a petition from a male delegation for the right to vote. Stowe, as the Attorney General, used the same arguments that the Canadian Parliament had levelled against female suffragists and denied the petition.

  • In 1876 she helped found the Toronto Women's Literary Club, one of the first organizations in Canada devoted to advancing women's rights. The organization later developed into the Canadian Women's Suffrage Association.
  • Her influence extended to the next generation of women physicians. Her daughter, Augusta Stowe-Gullen, later became the first woman to earn a medical degree in Canada.

Places and institutions named in her honour

  • Several places in Ontario are named after Stowe, including Emily Stowe Public School in Norwich Township, Ontario and Dr. Emily Stowe Public School in Courtice, Ontario.
  • In 2013, Toronto City Council renamed a portion of Elizabeth Street near Women's College Hospital as Dr. Emily Stowe Way.
  • Community organizations have also adopted her name, including the Emily Stowe Shelter for Women in Toronto, which provides services and support to women and families experiencing crisis.

See also

  • Jennie Smillie Robertson
  • Jessie Gray

References

  • Archive biography
  • The Celebrated Abortion Trial of Dr. Emily Stowe, Toronto, 1879, Constance Backhouse, Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, Volume 8: 1991 / p. 159-87