Day 2:
Names

Emily Stowe

     Emily Howard Jennings Stowe, M. D., was a notable teacher, historic school principal, famed physician, and a championed women’s suffragist. Born on May 1st, 1832, in Norwich, Ontario, Stowe was raised in a Quaker household by Hannah Lossing Howard and Solomon Jennings. Both her community and parents encouraged her education as a woman and the skill of herbal healing. At the age of 15, Stowe decided to begin her career as a teacher in Summerville, Ontario for seven years, deciding to leave for further education. After graduating from the Normal School for Upper in 1854, Stowe immediately accepted a job offer from the Brantford school board, soon becoming the first female principal of a public school in Ontario, a job she held until 1856. That year she married John Stowe, living in Mount Pleasant, Ontario, with a daughter and two sons. She decided to continue studying healing and medicine after her husband became ill with tuberculosis. 

     In 1865, Stowe applied to the Toronto School of Medicine but was rejected entry due to her gender. She then left Canada for New York Medical College for Women to learn homeopathic medicine. Stowe returned to Canada in 1867, opening a medical practice on Richmond Street in Toronto that specializes in treating the diseases of women and children. In the 1960s, because of her profession, she had to take more courses within Canada. After being denied again, she was accepted to the Toronto School of Medicine in 1871. Though Stowe was one of the first women to get in, she didn't receive her medical license until July 16th, 1880, from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. 

     Throughout her medical career, Stowe fought tirelessly for women’s equality because she always believed that women deserved the same opportunity as men in education. Stowe was a co-founder and a vice president of the Canadian Women's Suffrage Association (formerly the Toronto Women's Literacy Club) in 1876 - 1877. The CWSA helped women improve their working conditions and gain access to higher education. Stowe also helped create the nationwide organization dedicated to female suffrage called the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association (DWEA) in 1889. 

     Using her powerful positions in both her associations, she lobbied, petitioned, rallied, spoke, and wrote newspaper editorials to influence political change. Stowe helped create the Ontario Medical College for Women (formerly the Woman's Medical College), the first medical school for women in Canada, in 1883 by convincing the CWSA about the need for equal education. In 1898, the Woman's Medical College opened The Dispensary, a practice clinic that offered free medical advice and service. Even though the Ontario Medical College for Women shut down in 1905, the Dispensary later became the Women’s College Hospital and Dispensary in 1913 due to a lot of campaigning by the group Women’s College Hospital Committee. It continues to operate today and is a prominent teaching hospital associated with the University of Toronto. Stowe died on April 30th, 1903, in Toronto as a championed women's rights activist, educator, and physician. In the modern-day, she has two elementary schools named after her, one of them in her hometown, and she was a Canadian Hall of Fame 2018 inductee. 

Bibliography

Raymond, Katrine. "Emily Stowe".  The Canadian Encyclopedia, 07 November 2019, Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/emily-stowe. Accessed 07 March 2021. 

“Dr. Emily Stowe.” Schulich Medicine & Dentistry , www.schulich.uwo.ca/meds66/sculpture/honoured_physicians/Dr.%20Emily%20Stowe.html.