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Victorian Medical Women's Society

Founded in 1896 by the first female medical graduates of the University of Melbourne, this society provided both opportunities for networking and a means by which members could participate in social reform campaigns. As professionals they adopted a scientific or rational approach to social problems, differentiating themselves from the philanthropy with which women had traditionally been associated. Although the Women Students Medical Society, formed in 1902, merged with the men's organisation in 1923, the Medical Women's Society survives, suggesting that there are still gendered constraints in the medical profession despite the growing proportion of women graduates.

Shurlee Swain