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Against the Odds
New Zealand's first women doctors
Brief Description
In 2025, the year in which the Otago medical school celebrates 150 years, 50 per cent of graduates are women. Back in 1891 when Emily Seideberg, who would go on to become the school’s first woman graduate, applied for entrance, it was not at all clear...
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Format: Paperback / softback
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The women who battled prejudice and indifference to become doctors
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Description
In 2025, the year in which the Otago medical school celebrates 150 years, 50 per cent of graduates are women. Back in 1891 when Emily Seideberg, who would go on to become the school’s first woman graduate, applied for entrance, it was not at all clear that it would be granted. There was active hostility in many quarters to the very idea that women could be doctors.
Against the Odds traces the paths of the women who, between the 1880s and 1967 (when the Auckland medical school opened), battled indifference and chauvinism and, later, many of the other challenges that faced women in the professions, to become New Zealand’s first women doctors. Their stories are often remarkable and the contribution to research, medical breakthroughs and improved patient care is to be honoured.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781991016980
Publisher: Massey University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 05 June 2025
Country: New Zealand
Imprint: Massey University Press
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 27.0mm
Width: 163.0mm
Height: 230.0mm
Weight: 600g
Pages: 344
Collections
Aotearoa New Zealand History
Biography & Memoir
Cynthia Farquhar
Education & Reference
History & Archaeology
History & Military
Michaela Selway
New Zealand and Australia Published
New Zealand Biographies
New Zealand History
New Zealand Non-Fiction
New Zealand Published
Non-Fiction
Science & Technology Biographies
About the Author
Professor Cynthia (Cindy) Farquhar is the daughter of an early medical woman (Meredyth Gunn; 1952). Cindy trained in medicine and graduated from the School of Medicine at the University of Auckland in 1981. She trained in obstetrics and gynaecology in New Zealand and London and is the Postgraduate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Auckland. She has been the recipient of several research awards, most recently the Beaven Medal in 2024.
Michaela Selway is a PhD student in early medieval history at the University of Tübingen, Germany. She received her Master of Arts in History from the University of Auckland in 2020 and has worked as a historical researcher for the Early Medical Women of New Zealand project since that time. Her doctoral research is supported by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes research scholarship for academic excellence.
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