Leigh Whaley, Women and the Practice of Medical Care in Early Modern Europe, 1400-1800

In Women and the Practice of Medical Care in Early Modern Europe Leigh Whaley examines ‘the roles performed by and the achievements of women medical practitioners’ (p. 2) in order ‘to explain why women were, for the most part, excluded from the practice of formal medicine’ (p. 3). Whaley has gathered an impressive amount of material from Italy, Spain, France and England, ranging from manuscript receipt books and medical licences to published treatises. Her book provides a fascinating overview of women's medical practices in the early modern period. Whaley argues that the main reasons for women's declining opportunities to practise medicine were increased regulation and professionalisation and contemporary medical, religious and legal ideas about women. Throughout, Whaley touches on the importance of the religious framework on the continent, from the vigorous piety of the Counter Reformation, to the activities of Islamic and Jewish women and the centrality of the Catholic Church to nursing; little attention, however, is given to the Protestant context. The book is organised thematically, with the first two chapters considering the medieval context and the growing regulation of medicine from the fourteenth century by the Church, state and universities that excluded women from educational opportunities and lucrative medical practices. Chapter 3 argues that women's exclusion was based on the medical, social and religious understanding about their minds and bodies. The fourth chapter examines examples of women whose innovative ideas and treatments became widely used by physicians and surgeons. In Chapters 5 to 8, Whaley focuses on women's medical practices as midwives, nurses, irregular practitioners and domestic practitioners. The final chapter explores the relationship between ideas about witches and the treatment of women healers and midwives. Despite the obstacles to women's medical practices, Whaley concludes that women ‘were able to overcome’ them using their ‘tenacity and creative strategies’ (p. 197).

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