Ancient And Modern Healthcare For And By Women

Abstract

The topic of women’s healthcare has always been a convoluted issue affected by the politics, religion, and culture of a region. As society moves forward, retrospective analysis of history often reveals improved areas, and where progress is needed. It is therefore imperative to reflect on antiquity when striving for equality in modern healthcare systems. There have been few analyses that reconstructed the female patient and practitioner experience based on evidence from ancient texts. By examining the civilizations of Egypt and Greece, I sought answers to questions such as: What were visits to the gynecologist like in antiquity? Did women ever play a role as medical providers? How did the patient experience differ between males and females? In order to contrast ancient texts and modern experiences, individuals from diverse backgrounds in academia and healthcare were then interviewed about their lives and career paths. While some questions were more targeted to their field of study, most were open ended relating to challenges they have faced and different aspects of their job. The most prevalent theme among the women interviewed was that their work ethic and drive had to be much higher than their male counterparts for them to be successful.