Catalan pioneers advanced women’s healthcare
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In late 19th and early 20th century Catalonia, Spain, four women. Dolors Aleu i Riera, Trinitat Sais i Plaja, Francesca Fontova i Rosell, and Maria Lluïsa Quadras Bordes, became pioneers in medicine, specializing in gynecology and pediatrics.
Dolors Aleu i Riera became the first woman in Spain to earn a degree in Medicine in 1882, after overcoming bureaucratic delays.
She then opened her own practice in Barcelona, focusing on gynecology and pediatrics, and taught domestic hygiene at an academy for women’s education. Trinitat Sais i Plaja, born in 1878, was the first female doctor in the province of Girona. She studied medicine in Barcelona and dedicated her career to maternal and infant health, also participating in medical congresses and publishing articles advocating for women’s rights.
Francesca Fontova i Rosell faced initial barriers to university entry due to restrictions on women, but eventually gained permission from the Ministry of Public Instruction to study medicine in 1898. Maria Lluïsa Quadras Bordes earned her medical degree in 1920 and specialized in gynecology, opening a practice in Barcelona and later founding an institute for radiology and gynecology that provided care to low-income women. She also contributed to charitable organizations and worked at hospitals in Barcelona.
The women’s work helped to establish gynecology and pediatrics as fields where women doctors could practice and advance.
