Health + Wellness: Ogino Ginko

Episode Summary

Ogino Ginko was Japan's first female doctor of Western medicine. She was born in 1851 during the Tokugawa shogunate, a patriarchal society. At age 16, Ginko was forced into an arranged marriage. Her husband gave her gonorrhea, a humiliating experience made worse by rude male doctors. After recovering, Ginko divorced her husband and decided to become a compassionate doctor for women. She faced resistance from her family and harassment at medical school, but persevered. In 1885, Ginko became Japan's first licensed female Western physician. She specialized in obstetrics and gynecology, opening a hospital for women. Ginko advocated for other women to become doctors, convincing officials to allow women to take the medical licensing exam. In 1890, Ginko remarried and converted to Christianity. She left her practice for several years before returning to medicine in 1908. Ogino Ginko provided medical care to thousands of women during a time when the profession was dominated by men.

Episode Show Notes

Ogino Ginko (1851-1913) was Japan’s first female doctor of Western medicine. After suffering humiliating treatment at the hands of male doctors, she set out to become a doctor herself, one who would provide compassionate, respectful care.

Episode Transcript

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Check out wondermedianetwork.com slash survey to share your thoughts and be entered to win brand new Wonder Media Network swag. That's wondermedianetwork.com slash survey. It's quick, I promise. You can also find the link in the episode notes. Thank you so much for taking the time. SPEAKER_07: Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Grace Lynch and this is Womanica. Our trusty host, Jenny Kaplan, is feeling a bit under the weather. So WMN producers like myself are stepping in. This month, we're talking about the women who have made important contributions to the world of health and wellness. Today, let's learn about Japan's first female doctor of Western medicine. After suffering humiliating treatments at the hands of male doctors, she set out to become a doctor herself. One who would provide compassionate, respectful care. Please welcome Ogi no Ginko. Ogi no Ginko was born on March 3rd, 1851, just outside of present-day Tokyo. Japan was ruled by Tokugawa shogunate, a military government that had been in power since the 1600s and society was largely patriarchal. When Ginko was 16, her parents arranged for her to marry into a wealthy family, but the union was fraught. Ginko's husband was unfaithful and contracted gonorrhea. He soon passed it to Ginko. Ginko spent the next two years in treatment. It was humiliating with male doctors who were rude and unsympathetic. In an interview, she described it like this. This was the time when I first began to taste life's bitterness. I began to recover and became well enough to stroll around the hospital to visit other patients who were suffering from the same illness. We always sighed that being examined by a male doctor was always a misery. But the experience lit a fire in her and she came out of it with a sense of purpose. She divorced her husband and decided to become a doctor herself. Women, she believed, deserve to be treated by other women. Her new path, though, was often lonely. Her family was unsupportive, and being a single, divorced woman in Japan came with a lot of stigma. First, Ginko needed to complete her formal education. She earned a place at the Tokyo Women's Normal School and graduated in 1882. She then approached the president of the Japanese Red Cross and made the case that she should be allowed to attend medical school. With the help of Shimoda Yutako, a women's rights advocate, Ginko got permission to sit in on lectures at the local school. There, too, Ginko faced challenges. Students and professors alike harassed her. She had to petition over and over to be able to actually take the medical practitioner exams. But finally, in 1885, she succeeded. Ginko became the first female licensed Western medicine doctor in Japan. Inspired by her family, inspired once again by her own experiences, Ginko specialized in obstetrics and gynecology. She opened Ogino Hospital in Tokyo and provided care for thousands of women. Ginko also made sure to clear the way for other women who wanted to become doctors. She wrote influential essays and convinced the director of the National Hygiene Bureau to permit any woman who qualified to take the national physician's licensing examination. The same test that Ginko spent years trying to take herself. In 1890, Ginko remarried. Her new husband, Yukiyoshi Shikata, was a clergyman in the Protestant church. Ginko became a devout Christian, too. And in 1894, she left her medical practice to join her husband in Hokkaido, where he was trying to start a utopian settlement. Eventually, the utopia failed and Ginko's husband passed away. In 1908, she returned to Tokyo and spent the rest of her life practicing medicine. Ogino Ginko died in 1913 at the age of 62. All month, we're honoring women who changed the landscape of health and wellness. 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