#anna tomaszewicz

[radykalny-feminizm]

Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska (1854–1918) was the second Polish woman to become a medical doctor, and the first female Polish medical doctor to practice in Poland. She obtained her medical degree in 1877 in Zurich.

She knew that she wanted to be a doctor since she was a little girl, which was something unheard of at the time.

After obtaining her medical degree, she worked in Berlin and Vienna for a short time. However, she was not allowed to pass the state exam, which would have given her the right to practice medicine in Poland, and she was refused as a member of the Polish Society of Medicine because she was a woman.

She faced a huge amount of pure, disgusting misogyny for a simple fact that she was a female doctor.

She was called a whore. Men were claiming that she should stick to her womanly role and be only a wife and a mother. They also said that she would never be able to perform a successful surgery, because women couldn't stand a sight of blood. One man (whose name doesn't deserve to be mentioned) wrote a story about a female medical student who went to the university for a sole purpose of finding a husband.

Many highly respected doctors, writers, politicians and other important figures ridiculed her and did everything they could to make her miserable.

But she didn't give up.

She moved to St. Petersburg and passed the state exam there. This allowed her to practice women's health and pediatric medicine within the Polish Kingdom and Russia. In 1882 an epidemic of infection during childbirth broke out in Warsaw, and a few maternity shelters were opened; one of it was given to Anna to lead.

The number of deaths during and after childbirth was significantly lower under her lead than in any other place led by men.

She was one of the first doctors who recognized the importance of antiseptics (doctors simply washing their hands before a surgery wasn't so common back then). She was also empathetic towards her patients, which was something revolutionary at the time as well.

In 1896 she became the first person to perform a Caesarean section in Warsaw.

She's one of the many examples of women who fought for themselves despite men doing everything they could to break and humiliate her. She's truly a huge inspiration and deserves utter respect.

[essaytime]

I am absolutely pro-Polish street name changes, but one thing that annoys me a lot is that from my experience, they always propose someone that gets some attention already (if the poor place even gets a person and not some event or concept), when so many underrated historical figures get nothing. Like, all due respect to members of the Warsaw Uprising or Żołnierze Wyklęci (at least those who treated the local people properly), but can someone tell me they're forgotten with a straight face... Where is my Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska Street? My Zofia Rapp-Kochańska Street? My Napoleon Cybulski Street? My Klaudyna Potocka Street? My Zofia Moraczewska Street? My Mala Zimetbaum Street? My Edward Lubusch Street perhaps? And don't even get me started on the Aleja Armii Ludowej proposals... I stand by the suggestions to remove Armia Ludowa from there with all of my heart, but what a clown could possibly decide that Lech Kaczyński should get a street in the city center? That man's death anniversary is celebrated each month. This is the second most often after Jesus Christ. His statue is in front of literal Grób Nieznanego Żołnierza. Does that look like someone in desperate need of their own street to you people.