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MALVERN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 A local playwright is shining a light on a little-known Philadelphia first: the first degree-granting medical school for women.<\/p>\n
Suli Holum\u2019s new play, \u201cThe Woman Question,\u201d follows the 1894 class of the Woman\u2019s Medical College of Pennsylvania. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll of these women were coming to Philadelphia to become doctors before they could vote,\u201d Holum said. The school was founded in 1850, when women were banned from most professions.<\/p>\n
The title refers to the debate over whether or not women should be allowed to work, vote and take on roles in society outside the household.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a study that was conducted by a male doctor,\u201d Holum explained, \u201cthat proved that [women\u2019s] reproductive health was negatively impacted if they left the house when they were menstruating.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to Dr. Jacoby, who graduated from the Pennsylvania Woman\u2019s Medical College \u2014 she published a study that proved that women could do anything that they wanted to do when they were menstruating, and that studying would not \u2026 negatively impact their reproductive health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holum described the play as a \u201cdocu-fantasy\u201d \u2014 think \u201cLittle Women\u201d meets \u201cThe Pitt,\u201d she said \u2014 based on real people, with imagined scenarios.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the students that are represented in the play did overlap at the Woman\u2019s Medical College, but I have taken the liberty of putting them all in the same class, so they\u2019re all in the class of 1894,\u201d said Holum.<\/p>\n
The school was originally located at Sixth and Arch streets in Old City. It later moved to East Falls and eventually became part of the Drexel University College of Medicine. Holum dug deep into the archives at Drexel\u2019s Legacy Center over the 10 years she spent developing this play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe not only went into the archive but also interviewed experts and community members,\u201d she said, \u201cso that the play really is a reflection not only of historical research, but also how that research lands on contemporary people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holum shared the play with current Drexel medical students. \u201cThey get so excited,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re like, \u2018I didn\u2019t know I was going to see myself in this. And I can\u2019t believe that these women, med students in the 19th century, were going through the same things that I\u2019m going through now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n