In the late nineteenth century, the need for women physicians in missionary hospitals in Canton, China, led to expanded opportunities for both Western and Chinese women.
Topic
How the need for women physicians in late-19th-century Canton mission hospitals expanded opportunities for both Western and Chinese women.
Framework
Highlight Noteworthy. The author traces a chain of consequences flowing from a particular missionary need.
Main Point
The demand for women physicians in Canton missionary hospitals — driven partly by Chinese cultural conventions about female modesty — created opportunities for single Western women missionaries to practice medicine abroad and led to medical training and economic independence for many Chinese women.
P1: Women's mission societies and single missionaries
Beginning in the 1870s, women's foreign mission societies dedicated to women's mission work raised funds and effectively forced male-controlled mission boards to accept single women missionaries abroad.
P2: Why women physicians were accepted in Canton
Mission hospital administrators couldn't ignore the advantages of a well-trained Western woman physician — she could attend women patients without offending female modesty conventions. Some women physicians eventually founded women's medical institutions, gaining access to professional responsibilities unavailable to them at home.
P3: Opportunities for Chinese women
Many Chinese women — drawn to Western medicine because of the modesty issue — were treated by these physicians, and growing numbers of Chinese women received medical training. This let them earn an independent income (rare in traditional Chinese society) and eventually move into private practice.