Female Physicians and Pharmacists in Civil Croatia

Abstract

This paper focuses on the first female students of medicine and pharmacy – that is, the first women physicians and pharmacists to emerge in the  territory of Civil Croatia (Banska Hrvatska) up to the  year 1917. Although Croatian historiography has  already produced several studies on early women  physicians and pharmacists in this region, it lacks  analyses aimed at identifying the factors that  motivated these women to pursue studies in  medicine and pharmacy. Likewise, there is a lack of  research into their professional status and how their  male colleagues responded to the emergence of  women in a previously male-dominated field. The  main goal of this study is to identify who the first  women physicians and pharmacists were, where they  were educated, and what their position was  within the profession in Civil Croatia. The first part of  the paper presents an analysis of the beginnings of higher education, followed by a discussion of the  education of the earliest female doctors and  pharmacists. The final section examines their roles  and status within the profession. The research draws  primarily on archival materials preserved in the  Croatian State Archives and the Faculty of Medicine  at the University of Zagreb, as well as on periodicals  such as Liječnički vjesnik, Farmaceutski vjesnik, and  Domaće ognjište, alongside the relevant scholarly  literature and published sources.