138 years ago in 1880 a woman called Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs became the first Dutch woman to obtain a doctorate. Just one year earlier she had become the first woman to attend and graduate from a Dutch university and the first to hold a medical degree. Needless to say, her journey to these successes was not easy.
Dr Jacobs was encouraged as a young girl by her physician father to study hard and he taught her subjects that at the time were only taught to men – including mathematics, history and languages like Greek and Latin. After finishing primary school Jacobs encountered her first obstacle on her road to becoming the first female physician in the Netherlands: no girls were allowed to enter high school in Sappemeer where she grew up. She continued her studies outside of school instead and in 1870 passed an exam qualifying her to become an assistant chemist.
Still not satisfied in her pursuit of an education, Jacobs wrote to J.R. Thorbecke, first minister of the Netherlands, to request permission to attend university. Approval was granted in 1871 by the minister for education and Jacobs enrolled at the University of Groningen. Because of her persistence access to higher education was eventually made available to all women in the Netherlands.
The focus of Dr Jacobs’ medical career became the health of people that society overlooked. She provided free consultations for poor people and children and taught courses in hygiene and child care to improve conditions. She also championed women’s sexual health and rights, despite the climate of her time and the profound criticism she faced for her actions. She was accused, even by her own family members, of being against life for her work on improving the diaphragm and for creating a free clinic in Amsterdam for prostitutes, vulnerable women and families where she provided contraception to reduce unwanted pregnancies and STIs. Her work in the centre also branched out into the occupational health and rights of working women. It was at this time common for employees to remain standing for 10 hours at work, potentially causing major health issues. Jacobs drove the introduction of benches for employees to rest on during work hours and later for regular breaks to become standard practice.
Dr Jacobs’ commitment to women’s health blossomed into a passion for all women’s issues and rights and in 1903 Jacobs became the leader of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. Her activism led her to meet American women’s suffrage leader Carrie Chapman and the two travelled the world together to support women across the globe in the fight to obtain equal rights. In the Netherlands women finally obtained the right to vote in 1919.
In a letter from Dr Jacobs to Chapman: “My dear Carrie. I am sure that I have not lived in vain, we have done our task and we can leave the world with the conviction that we leave it better than we found it”.
Dr Aletta Jacobs died on the 10th of August 1929.