![]() ![]() On 14 March 2019, she was honored with a Google Doodle, on what would have been her 160th birthday. Later she was a surgeon and obstetrician. Initially working as a midwife, she became one of the first women to attend and graduate Medical School, eventually earning her doctorate in 1887. Her achievements contributed to the feminist movement in Mexico in the early 1900s, which continued after her death on 26 January 1939, at the age of 79. Mexico City, January 26, 1939) was the first female physician in Mexico. Now, women represent nearly 70 per cent of the global healthcare workforce. She forged a path for hundreds of Mexican women that followed in her footsteps to pursue a career in medicine, despite the field being dominated by men at the time. Montoya continued to advocate for equal access to education for women, co-founding the Mexican Association of Female Doctors in 1925. Despite this, Montoya had a long, fruitful career in gynaecology, obstetrics and paediatrics. Throughout her medical career, even after graduation, she received abuse from other medical professionals who criticised her credentials. Her graduation ceremony was personally attended by Díaz and his wife to congratulate her on her success. Montoya graduated from medical school in 1887, becoming the first female physician in Mexico. Díaz, an advocate for middle- and upper-class women’s rights to education, instructed authorities at the university to allow her to continue her studies. Taking matters into her own hands, Montoya wrote a letter to the president of Mexico, Porfirio Díaz, requesting that she be reinstated at the university and allowed to take her examinations. These objections led to her removal from the school, and she was forbidden from continuing her studies to become a surgeon. Her acceptance was met with hostility from the university, with some surgeons and other students attempting to kick her out on the grounds that only male students were allowed. ![]() Although she was rejected on her first application, she was finally accepted in 1882 by the institution’s principal, Francisco Ortega. Despite the resistance she encountered, she applied to the National School of Medicine in Mexico City. While enjoying a successful career as a midwife, Montoya received abuse from doctors who orchestrated a hate campaign against her in local newspapers. She completed her formal education by the age of 12 and earned a degree to become a midwife by 16, spending the next two years practising her profession in the city of Puebla, central Mexico. Montoya’s legacy inspired the establishment of better education opportunities for women in Mexico.īorn in Mexico City in 1859, Montoya was encouraged to study from a young age by her mother, Soledad Lafragua. Woman in field men, UNAMirada a la Ciencia – DGDC UNAM, available onlineĪlvarado Maria de Lourdes, (2011) Women and Higher Education in Mexico Nineteenth Century, CESU-UNAM, available as PDFĭra.Matilde Montoya was the first woman to practise medicine in Mexico, earning a doctorate in 1887 and specialising in surgery and obstetrics. Matilde had two offices in Mexico City, one private and one where attending free the poor, especially women.Ĭarrillo Ana Maria (2010) Matilde Montoya. The next day, the news was published in the newspapers highlighting the Mexican first woman doctor was an example for other women. During the first year sharpened criticism of Matilde, as in anatomy class, a woman was watching cadavers of naked men, that scandal! How was that possible? so, steps to work with the covered bodies were taken.Īfter 5 years of study and practice in hospitals, Matilde presented her professional examination, this being a public act, accompanied by President Porfirio Diaz, the Interior Minister, teachers and peers. Matilde decided to study medicine at the National School of Medicine in Mexico City (forerunner of the Faculty of Medicine UNAM). Once initiated her studies in Puebla, the President Porfirio Diaz invited to finalize them at the capital of the Republic, considering that nothing fairer or better than the first Mexican woman doctor was entitled in that city. At 16, Montoya received the title of Midwife and settled to work in Puebla with resounding success. ![]() She studied midwifery in the Establishment of Medical Sciences, which involved two years of theoretical studies, a final examination to five synodical, and practice for a year at the Maternity Hospital exam. ![]()
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