Tendencies of Woman Doctors Registered in Japan during the Taisho Era.

Abstract

The Taisho-Era (1912 to 1926) was a period during which Japanese women increasingly took part in various social activities and employment. The author surveyed the registered woman-doctors listed in the official gazette and the journal of the Japanese Society of Woman Doctors from the first to the 10th years of the Taisho-Era (1912 to 1921) and investigated their medical life-times, including with regard to their husbands and family surroundings, hobbies, and so on. According to the author, there were 467 woman doctors during the first 10 years of the Taisho-Era, far more than the 239 during the Meiji-Era (1886 to 1912). Immediately after medical registration they had a tendency to choose employment in large cities such as Tokyo because there were many medical facilities suitable' for clinical training there. After several years of this training, some of them moved their activities to the countryside. The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake caused tremendous damagp,to people, including the woman doctors, who were affected by the collapse of buildings and fires (this subject is developed in a separate paper).