{"title":"Maude Abbott: \"A Feminine Misfit in an Exclusive Male Environment\" and Her Strategies for Success.","authors":"James R Wright","doi":"10.1177/10935266241281786","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Maude Abbott was a pioneering female Canadian physician who became a world authority on medical museums and congenital heart disease. Abbott spent almost all her career in highly sexist, discriminatory work environments. This paper reviews Abbott's life and accomplishments, but, more importantly, analyzes her pathway to success in the masculine world of early 20th-century academic pathology. Abbott, though well-trained as a pathologist, never provided clinical service, but instead worked as museum curator at McGill University. She established the International Association of Medical Museums (predecessor to the International Academy of Pathology), edited its journal, and essentially ran the organization. Abbott, surrounded by influential males, dealt differently with each. In general, she recognized that male doctors believed women lacked the gravitas to lead major initiatives but that she could circumnavigate this supposed impediment by co-leading projects with male counterparts, preferably ones too busy to get in her way. She repeatedly used this approach, and by doing most of the work but sharing credit, succeeded in gaining reputation, accomplishment, and advancement. Abbott's pioneering work on congenital heart disease established her as one of the founders of pediatric pathology, and, overall, her career promoted the entry of women physicians into the pathology profession.</p>","PeriodicalId":54634,"journal":{"name":"Pediatric and Developmental Pathology","volume":" ","pages":"513-529"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11568640/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Pediatric and Developmental Pathology","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10935266241281786","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/10/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PATHOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Maude Abbott was a pioneering female Canadian physician who became a world authority on medical museums and congenital heart disease. Abbott spent almost all her career in highly sexist, discriminatory work environments. This paper reviews Abbott's life and accomplishments, but, more importantly, analyzes her pathway to success in the masculine world of early 20th-century academic pathology. Abbott, though well-trained as a pathologist, never provided clinical service, but instead worked as museum curator at McGill University. She established the International Association of Medical Museums (predecessor to the International Academy of Pathology), edited its journal, and essentially ran the organization. Abbott, surrounded by influential males, dealt differently with each. In general, she recognized that male doctors believed women lacked the gravitas to lead major initiatives but that she could circumnavigate this supposed impediment by co-leading projects with male counterparts, preferably ones too busy to get in her way. She repeatedly used this approach, and by doing most of the work but sharing credit, succeeded in gaining reputation, accomplishment, and advancement. Abbott's pioneering work on congenital heart disease established her as one of the founders of pediatric pathology, and, overall, her career promoted the entry of women physicians into the pathology profession.
期刊介绍:
The Journal covers the spectrum of disorders of early development (including embryology, placentology, and teratology), gestational and perinatal diseases, and all diseases of childhood. Studies may be in any field of experimental, anatomic, or clinical pathology, including molecular pathology. Case reports are published only if they provide new insights into disease mechanisms or new information.