Sunshine for Women Book Summaries | Home

1.       "In fact, medicine was not the only way in which she served female interests; she advocated women's rights socially, politically, and in terms of government participation. The long and difficult struggle to attain female suffrage in this country [the Netherlands] owes much to Dr. Jacobs, and it is mainly due to her determination that women now have the right to vote." Foreword by J. Oppenheim (1924)

         "The eldest of my six brothers followed in Father's footsteps, the second studied pharmacy, and the third, who died young, would have earned a doctorate in philosophy. The other three pursued military careers, much against my parents' wishes. One of them had even trained as an architect when he decided to become an officer. Of the five sisters, the eldest married a doctor at the age of nineteen, after briefly training to be a teacher. The second, Charlotte, was destined to become the first woman pharmacist in the Netherlands. I studied medicine, and Frederika, my youngest sister, was the first woman to obtain her teaching certificate in mathematics and accounting. She was then immediately offered a position at the girls' college in The Hague. Just one of the eleven children -- a girl -- proved totally unsuited to any form of education. All attempts to prepare her for the outside world failed, more through her lack of ability than for want of our trying." p. 2

2.       "That eighth child was to be his favorite. I could do no wrong in his eyes, and this was something my older brothers and sisters often turned to their advantage. If one of the children had some special request, I was usually the one to go and ask Father." p. 3

3.       "At home the boys and girls were treated the same: we went to the same school, attended the same classes, were given the same pocket money, and were assigned almost the same chores. Almost the same, because whereas the girls had to knit, sew, and darn, the boys' duties consisted of polishing the shoes and chopping the wood. There were no privileges and, just like the boys, the girls were expected to choose a profession. Of course my parents were greatly amused by my plans, but Father never tried to dissuade me and even actively encouraged me." pp. 3-4

4.       "One by one, we were sent to the village school, which was attended by boys and girls from all kinds of families, both rich and poor. I shared a desk with an orphan who lived at the workhouse among the sick, feebleminded, and senile. We two were always at the top of the class. In other circumstances, this intelligent child would probably have gone on to further education, but, as it was, she left school at twelve, became a maid, and later married a simple laborer.

         The fact that I have always opposed the existence of private school is based on my experience at the village school. I simply cannot understand the need to categorize small children. Mixed schools automatically confront the sons and daughters of the well-to-do with the hardships endured by working-class families. Conversely, if children from poorer backgrounds are left free to study alongside their wealthier friends, they learn much that will benefit them in later life. As an adult, in my own small way I have always actively supported the abolition of private schools.

         I was thirteen when I left the village school, where I had generally been at the top of the class despite the attacks of malaria and the nosebleeds that had often forced me to stay home for anything from a few days to several weeks. During my last year at grade school, I also attended a crafts school where, every evening between five and seven, I learned knitting, crocheting, sewing, and other similar skills. Knitting was my favorite activity because I could read at the same time.

         Once she left lower school, the only opportunity for a village girl to continue her education was at the local ladies' school. A high school had just recently opened but it was only for boys. The daughters of gentlemen farmers and prominent families inevitably attended the ladies' school, where they were taught handicrafts and a bit of French, but, above all, the learned "good manners."

         I survived just two weeks of life at that fashionable school. They tried to teach me how to enter a room when visiting and I discovered that there was a difference between the way men shook hands with men and the way the shook hands with ladies. I had to learn how to curtsy properly, and, to my eternal discredit, I must admit that I was a less than able pupil. We learned to replace perfectly good Dutch words and expressions with their French equivalents, "because," as our teacher said, "it's mo0re refined to use a little French not and then."

         I found all this completely idiotic. "Isn't there something terribly wrong," I wondered, "with wasting your time on this kind of drivel?" "p. 7

5.       Jacobs went to live with her brother Sam, a pharmacist. His assistant helped Jacobs prepare for her assistant pharmacists' exam. Jacobs passes the assistant pharmacists' exam.

         Discussing how she got the additional education she need to enter the university, Jacobs writes, "Many of the subjects were taught at the local high school, but that was only for boys. The headmaster, Mr. Renssen, however, had no objections to my attending. The school was allowed to admit only boy pupils, but there was no ban on girls sitting in on classes. With Thorbecke as minister, he decided it was worth taking the risk. And so it was that I became the first girls to attend a boys' high school. I had known most of the boys from grade school and I got on fine with the teachers as well." p. 11

6.       Writes to Minister Thorbecke and asks special permission to enter the university. Thorbecke allows her to enter the university as a probationary student for one year. After one year, he will decide if she can remain permanently.

         "Despite the fact that the opposite is suggested by various articles about me, I will now set the record straight by stating that when I went to Groningen I had virtually no idea of the consequences of what I was doing. How could I? I had been brought up in a village and knew little of the world at large. It is true that ours was a liberal household, but the newspaper was all that kept us in touch with outside events. I should also point out that one copy was shared with three other families and that the younger children never got a chance to read it at all. Combine that with the fact that the Dutch women's movement was still in its infancy and I think the reader will by now appreciate that this seventeen-year-old village girl was completely ignorant of the objectives later attributed to her. My sole ambition was to complete my education and to go into practice with either Julius or my father.

         When I first became a student I was little more than a child. I was frail and sexually undeveloped. The only difference between me and other children was a matter of willpower and the thirst for knowledge. It was only after graduation that I became involved in the struggle for female emancipation.

         To conclude this chapter, I would like to draw attention to one aspect of this story that was to have important consequences for Sappemeer. My youngest sister, Frederika, was just fourteen when I left for Groningen. She had completed grade school and wanted to continue her education, although she had yet to decide about a future career. Again we encountered the complete absence of academic opportunity for the girls of our village. However, Fredericka followed my example and was allowed to sit in on classes at the high school for boys, but this time at great expense. Both my youngest brothers were also sent there because the fees were considerably lower for additional children from the same family. Nonetheless, Father still resented having to pay out large sums of money when the boys were accepted as regular pupils but Frederika was not.

         Minister Thorbecke somehow discovered what was going on, with the result that Father's request was granted and, in 1871, the high school opened its gates to girl pupils under exactly the same conditional that applied to boys. Things remained that way until 1901, when this provision, which pertained only to the village of Sappemeer, was withdrawn by Minister Abraham Kuyper. Girls wanting to attend the local high school encountered the same restrictions that applied to their counterparts elsewhere. But finally, in 1905. Minister Rink reinstated the privileges that Thorbecke first bestowed on Sappemeer." p. 13-14

7.       "In this respect, fortunately not only the professors but also the vast majority of students were both courteous and encouraging." p. 16

8.       "Although I experienced no hostility from the people I was directly involved with, my attending the university caused considerable commotion in the country at large. Even the liberal newspapers repeatedly voiced their opposition. Ironically they were always the first to inform their readers when prevailing male opinion condemned or ridiculed female students abroad. Of course, it goes without saying that I would not be "spared" by the conservative and religious press. Those papers seemed convinced that Miss Jacobs had become a student just so she could meet members of the opposite sex! While it was impossible to suggest that I lavished excessive attention on my appearance, they even managed to spot some dangerous intent in my simple choice of clothing. The reason I dressed as I did was that I was determined to attract notice.

9.       The worst of it was that the press even managed to influence the attitudes of my own family. Brother Sam, the pharmacist, had first dissociated himself from my academic aspirations when I stayed with him in Arnhem. He now accused Father of giving in to my every whim. As a result, the whole family felt dragged into the Aletta Jacobs affair. "There's something wrong," he argued, "with one child out of eleven being allowed to damage the prospects of all the others. You should have her doing the washing instead of packing her off to a university with a pile of books under her arm."

         And my brother Johan, who had by then become a petty officer at the military school at Kampen, wrote that my ridiculous actions had made his life completely unbearable. His fellow soldiers had invented all kinds of insulting nicknames for men and, merely because I was his sister, everyone automatically assumed he shared my views. The situation got so bad that he finally announced to his class that he would have nothing more to do with me.

         He kept this up for a year and a half. He never mentioned me in his letters, and when he was at home on leave he acted as I simply did not exist. How often in those days I seemed to be surrounded by men saying, "Fortunately my daughters, or sisters, aren't like that."

         Mine was no easy life. I got up at half-past five each morning because if I wanted to be on time for lectures I had to catch the six-thirty train from Sappemeer, The walk to the station was always windy and dusty, but it became virtually impassable when the weather was bad, particularly if it had snowed.

         If I walked fast, it took only fifteen minutes to get to the station. Sometimes I saw the train approaching while I was still on my way, but the stationmaster always made sure that it didn't leave without me. And, thanks to the benevolence of the stationmaster and the ticket collectors, I was usually ushered into a first-class compartment although I had only a third-class season ticket." pp. 16-17

10.       "Rumors began circulating in the spring of 1872 that Thorbecke was suffering from a serious illness and that his life was in danger. The minister's death could have had disastrous consequences for me as I had not yet been granted permanent permission to complete my education. What would happen if Thorbecke's successor opposed my cause? After consulting my professors, I quickly took exams in those subjects where my knowledge was already sufficient. I immediately sent the written proof of my successful results to the minister with the request that he should no longer withhold my permanent permission for further education.

          Two days after Thorbecke's death, on June 5, 1872, I received the permission, complete with a funereal black border. It was dated May 30, 1872, and an accompanying letter informed me that the granting of this request had been one of the minister's last official acts." p. 18

11.       Jacobs passes exams to become a Candidate in Mathematics and Physics (non sine laude - with honors), which is preparatory to the study of medicine. Passes next set of exams. Jacobs receives letters from many people, including people she never met. Even one C. V. Gerritsen, who would one day play a major role in her life. Jacobs moves to Amsterdam to enter medical school in Oct 1876. Received medical degree on April 2, 1878. Discussing this last set of exams, Jacobs writes,

          "It was during this exam that I first encountered professors who openly opposed the idea of women doctors. Two gentlemen treated me in a way that was simply unfair. Fortunately, several other Utrecht professors as well as my teachers from Amsterdam actively protected me from these two examiners' remarks and behavior. Indeed, it was only because of this protection that I was able to complete the exam at all." p. 27-28

12.       Regarding a post-graduation vacation trip to London:

          "The next morning I was against greeted by a pleasant surprise. I was eating breakfast when two young ladies came to pay their respects. They told me that they were medical students and friends of C. V. Gerritsen, from Amersoort, who had sent them an elaborate telegram asking them to look after me. And so they had come to offer their help. We soon became firm friends and left a few hours later for the women's medical school on Henrietta Street where they introduced me to the male professors and more of the female students. During that first visit, I was repeatedly invited to attend classes at the school After Henrietta Street, we went to visit Dr. Drysdale, who, although I saw relatively little of him in London. was to be a great influence on my later life. It was through him that I first met Annie Besant, who was at that time collaborating with Charles Bradlaugh on speeches and articles promoting freethinking. I was also to meet Bradlaugh and his daughters.

          For those unfamiliar with the prominent personalities of the day, Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891) had embarked on his crusade against Christianity when he was just seventeen, with a pamphlet called "A Few Words on the Christian Creed" (1850). While I was in London, he, like Dr. Drysdale, was an active supporter of Malthusian theory. And it was through these individuals that I came to meet other men and women whose campaign for "motherhood by choice" and whose theories concerning the 'voluntary limiting of families" had caused an uproar in the sanctimonious England of the day.

          So, before I had a chance to explain myself or decide what I actually thought, I found myself surrounded by radicals of the scientific, political, and ethical worlds whose sole aim was to counter conservatism and hypocrisy. I attended meetings where Bradlaugh and his small group of followers discussed contemporary politics. On Sundays I went to the Fabian Society, which was still in its infancy, and I also followed the meetings of various working-class groups." pp. 33-34

13.       "Today, working class women and young female students simply take it for granted that they are free to wander through the streets at any hour, day or night. They will find it difficult to understand exactly what was implied forty years ago by a woman simply walking down a public street during the afternoon or evening. Neither the public nor the police was used to such an occurrence; in fact even the men who had been appointed by the government to ensure the safety of the streets were known to neglect their duty in this respect." p. 41 Jacobs goes on to relate a story about being called away at night to assist in a child birth. Since no coach was available and the house was only a few minutes walk away, she walked to the house and delivered the child. As she walked home, the policeman on duty tried to rape her. The next day she went to the police chief and complained. She was assured that she would have no more trouble with the police.

14.       Discusses reasons for championing birth control, how she came to be involved in the birth control movement. pp. 46-49

          "When I was a student, and particularly when I worked at Amsterdam Hospital, I was haunted by the suffering caused by frequent pregnancies, which, for various reasons, can have a disastrous effect on a woman's life.

          In my long conversations with a variety of women in the delivery room, they explained to me that they found it impossible to prevent pregnancy when sexual abstinence was the only method available. Women who produced sickly babies or stillbirths, for whom birth meant yet another brush with death, kept on returning to the delivery room. Families that were already large enough considering the mother's physical condition and the parents' circumstances, simply continued to expand. I spent hours wrestling with this problem without any solution in sight. Sometimes I discussed the issue with my fellow students. "Yes," they would coolly reply, "that's what called a woman's destiny" or "Thank God, there's no way of preventing pregnancy. If there were, then the whole world would soon collapse through underpopulation." p. 46

          "The availability of contraception would prevent immeasurable suffering. I had learned that much from the pregnant women I had met in Amsterdam Hospital and from all the newborn babies whose births were greeted by anything but joy and whose very existence was a burden both to their families and to society in general. There remained only the question of which contraceptives were effective in preventing unwanted pregnancy. I felt unable to come up with any definitive answer. Doubting that the existing means were reliable or even suitable for u se, I was uncertain as to whether they could damage users' health. In the end, I was forced to admit that I had reached an impasse. My contact was with groups that included the book's author and with others who described themselves as Neo-Malthusians because they followed Malthus's ideas yet chose to employ their own means to combat this social ill. Although they had provided me with much theoretical knowledge, I had no way of transforming theory into practice." p. 47

          "During my search for a remedy for this state of affairs, I chanced upon an article in early 1882 in a German medical journal that had been written by Dr. Mensinga from Flensburg. He recommended the use of a pessary for the kinds of cases I was dealing with. This purely scientific article made such an impression on me that I immediately wrote to its author. A lengthy exchange of letters followed, in which Dr. Mensinga informed me fully about the way in which pessaries should be used. He also sent me a number of specimens. Although Dr. Mensinga had assured me that they were effective and in no way jeopardized users' health, I decided that I had to have them tested before I could provide any personal recommendation.

          For social, moral, and medical reasons, women from different social classes had often asked me for some form of contraception. I had always had to fend off these requests without providing adequate explanation or advice. Eventually I sent letters to a number of women whose need was greatest. I told them that I believed I had found a means to help them, but before I could fully recommend it, they would have to agree to regular examinations during the first months of its use. Some of these women eventually agreed to the experiment, and the results were such that, some months later, I was able to announce that I could provide a safe and effective contraceptive.

          Although I deemed it unnecessary to advertise my wares, I felt duty-bound to announce that I was now able to prescribe contraception for those women wishing to avoid pregnancy on social, moral, or medical grounds.

          Not for one moment did I delude myself that I would be supported by many of my fellow doctors. I knew that they were deeply conventional and also that they were ignorant of society and social issues. Hence, I expected very little cooperation. On the other hand, I had never imagined that I would create such a furor. But in fact I incurred the wrath of the entire medical establishment. Even those who privately agreed with me carefully kept it to themselves for fear that they would receive the same treatment. These were difficult times for me, and I sorely missed the one man in whom I had always been able to confide. Sadly, my father was gone, and the few friends I trusted simply lacked the medical and sociological knowledge to be able to understand the importance of my work for humanity. I discussed this so often with them that they finally suggested, with the best of intentions, that I should publicly admit I had made a mistake and state that I would no longer provide this treatment. Fortunately I had never doubted my actions; otherwise I might indeed have followed their advice. But I was too deeply influenced by what I had seen and by my belief that this work would benefit humanity.

          As the only woman doctor in Holland, I often found it difficult and painful to row against the tide of lies and slander spread by my male counterparts. However, the absolute conviction that I was doing the right thing, and the awareness that this whole situation concerned not only individual suffering but also the interests of society at large, gave me the strength to stand by my point of view. But, even so, I was sometimes assailed by doubts. I would wander aimlessly around the Vondelpark, oblivious to my surroundings and wrestling with the dreadful thought that maybe, despite everything, I had made a mistake. Could the availability of contraception ultimately lead to a world without children? Would it cause adultery? And, if the birth rate fell, would the country's economic position be threatened? I was obsessed by these questions and wanted to find answers, though I was a layman as far as economics was concerned. But I kept thinking that the longing to have a child is so strong in most normal women that only for the most serious reasons would they choose to avoid motherhood. Of course, I thought, contraception would certainly lower the number of unwanted pregnancies and hence should be welcomed for many social, sociological, and individual reasons. If there were fewer unwanted babies, the race would advance, which in turn would lead to greater social well-being and human happiness. Studying this subject in great depth finally convinced me that I had taken the right course of action. I already felt what Nietszche later so eloquently wrote: not propagating the race, but raising the level of humanity, must be the aim of existence.

          These experiences thoroughly undermined my trust in other people. I knew in advance that those narrow minded in outlook and suspicious of all innovation were bound to disagree with my way of thinking. I also reasoned that my opponents would include both those whose religious beliefs were directly contradicted by my opinions and those who were quite simply ignorant of social problems. But this did not bother me. In fact, through what I said and wrote, I even hoped to convert a few of them. But not for a single moment did I expect the level of hostility and obstructiveness I encountered from my fellow doctors (and particularly from the obstetricians and gynecologists whose livelihood I apparently threatened). Had they cast doubt on the contraceptive's reliability, they would have at least been forced to confront its social implications. I, in turn, could have defended my views, and an honest discussion would have ensued based on differences of opinion and experience. The issue of contraception was also latter occasionally broached by the Geneeskundig Tijdschrift (Medical Journal). And whenever this happened I joined in the debate, with the result that I eventually emerged victorious. However at first my opponents were quite willing to resort to spreading stories that were entirely untrue. The accused me of promoting abortion and of leading an immoral life. How I wished I could refute these lies in public! But I never got the chance. These tales were never related to me directly. On the very few occasions that I managed to unearth the original source, the culprit was invariably either an obstetrician or a gynecologist. I would always confront him and demand an explanation for his behavior, but usually he would shrug it all off with some remark about contraception being the same as abortion. Of course, such reasoning was totally illogical because, as everyone knows, while the former is legal, the latter is a criminal act. For the rest, the people who opposed me in this manner were generally careful not to air their questionable opinions in public.

          The more my practice expanded, the more I was viewed as a formidable competitor, which meant that ever-increasing numbers of my colleagues were siding with my opponents. Unable to defend myself, I simply continued to live my life and tried to perform my work openly and as honestly as possible.

          It was an age steeped in hypocrisy! I am particularly thinking of those clergymen who would denounce contraception from the pulpit and then pack their wives off to my office. I also remember women who were only too pleased to use the means I prescribed for them yet never lost a chance to condemn me at every tea party and sewing circle. and, while publicly denouncing my work, some doctors would still expect me to instruct them in the practical application of birth control! Fortunately these irritating experiences were more than made up for by the gratitude of a great many women and the warmth and friendship of a number of people in high places." pp. 48-50

15.       "In March 1885, Minister Heemskerk announced his planned constitutional reforms, and his proposed revisions concerning enfranchisement were immediately endorsed. The new constitution was introduced two years later, in 1887. This meant that from that point onward women's exclusion from suffrage had become a fait accompli. The constitution explicitly stated that only male Dutch citizens and male residents were granted active and passive suffrage. The newspapers had made such a fuss about my attempts to achieve woman suffrage under the old constitution that my efforts were mentioned even in the foreign press." p. 56

16.       "As mentioned earlier, I took over the leadership of the Association for Woman Suffrage in 1903 and remained its president until votes for women became a legal reality." p. 58

17.       "At that time, the Austrian parliament was debating the issue of broader enfranchisement. But even the most progressive of parliamentarians had abandoned the demand for woman suffrage and campaigned exclusively for male enfranchisement. I brought this up at a meeting attended by several members of parliament and advised all the women present to refuse to help in achieving this goal. I tried to explain that it would do nothing to further their cause should these plans become law. In fact, universal male suffrage would make their struggle even harder to sustain because at present they could at least count on the support of those men who, like themselves, were denied their civil rights. In the future, they would find themselves isolated and battling to convince even more men than ever of the justice of their cause. Although the Austrian men had sworn to campaign on behalf of woman suffrage, once universal male suffrage became law, I knew from the experience of women in other countries not to attach the slightest significance to these promises.

          My words provoked a storm of protest. Everyone wanted to join in the discussion. Although I no longer remember how many people were involved, I do recall that Victor Adler, an extremely progressive member of parliament and a friend to women, put in a few strong words on my behalf. He came and sat next to men at the supper that concluded the meeting so that he could continue the discussion with me. Not only the men but also many of the Austrian women seemed to disagree with me. They repeatedly assured me that the men in their country would be an exception to the rule and would keep their promises.

          In the end history proved me right. After may invitations from the Austrian Committee for Woman Suffrage, I eventually returned to Vienna in 1913 for a speaking engagement where I made a point of mentioning my prediction of 1906. Universal male enfranchisement had been introduced some seven years earlier, while women were still forbidden to organize themselves politically and were banned from attending political meetings. Some of the audience responded to my words with thunderous applause while others, including most of the men present, reacted with indignation. Both sides were heard in the morning papers; some who supported by views strongly criticized the men for their disloyalty, while others described me as a foreigner making a seditious speech." p. 64

18.       "I moved to Amsterdam to begin practicing as the first woman doctor in the country and fortunately I soon found myself with a flourishing practice. Many women came during my office hours, including a large number of salesgirls who often reported similar symptoms. I almost always found that they were suffering from gynecological problems that I could only ascribe to the effect of being forced to stand each day for hours on end. At that time, shops in the major cities stayed open until eleven at night. With the working day starting at 8 A. M., salesgirls had no alternative but to stand behind their counters for exceptionally long periods of time with only the briefest of rests for meals.

          Each time I encountered these cases, which could so easily have been prevented but would now entail a lifetime of suffering, I resolved to do whatever I could to improve the girls' working conditions. I was naive enough to believe that shopkeepers and department store owners prevented their staff from sitting simply because they were ignorant of the risks involved in standing for a protracted period of time. I felt that it was up to me to enlighten these employers and I never for one moment doubted that I would succeed. How wrong I was!" p. 66 (It would take Jacobs 20 years to get a law passed requiring stores to provide a stool for sales clerks to sit on when the store was empty.)

19.       "Although I can hardly claim to have done pioneering work for either pacifism or antimilitarism, I can honestly say that I detest war and view the armed forces as being an unmitigated evil." p. 74

20.       About legalized, licensed prostitution: "In my view, evil, necessary or otherwise, simply has no right to exist. My sense of justice was outraged by the theory that society was in some way obliged "to try to provide healthy women" so that men might indulge their carnal desires." p. 101

21.       "I decided to look into the current laws and investigate the prevailing situation so that I could provide the most effective help and advice possible. Mrs. Solly from Cape Town, who led the antiprostitution movement of South Africa, gave me a great many useful addresses and contacts. Needless to say, what I encountered defied description. As usual, there was never any question of considering the women's interests. No one stopped to think about the plight of the prostitute or of those infected, often through no fault of their own, with a venereal disease. The existing regulations were designed with the sole purpose of protecting men; women's needs were treated as entirely irrelevant." p. 107

22.       "Finally, I should add that L. J. Veen of Amsterdam published my book, Women's Issues, in 1899. In it I discuss three topical issues, the second of which is "The Legal Regulation of Prostitution." The two other articles are devoted to "Woman's Economic and Political Independence" and to "Family Planning." " p. 108

23.       About her trip with Carrie Chapman Catt through Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia: "At the risk of stating the obvious, I would like to add that we always managed to combine work with play and never lost sight of our journey's aim: to study the legal and social position of women in every country we visited and, wherever possible, to help organize these women so that they could improve their lives." p. 160

24.       "After the Philippines we visited China and Japan. We had been advised not to proceed beyond the coast of China; although the second revolution had ended, there was obviously a third in the offing. However, we had received so many dire warnings during our travels that we now tended to take them all with a grain of salt. In China, we learned much and met many extraordinary people. Moreover, our visit was vital in terms of the women's movement. The Chinese women's movement, such as it was, lacked any form of organization or unity of purpose, and it had appropriated the militant methods of the English suffragettes. When I asked these women why they had chosen such a radical approach, I was surprised to hear that, instead of reporting on feminism throughout the world, the Chinese press had reported on only the campaign tactics of the English suffragettes. No wonder that, when Chinese women began to demand their rights, their first action was to break all the windows of a parliament building.

          Although both of us opposed the suffragettes' methods, this trip once again demonstrated that their actions had made women all over the world aware of their own disadvantaged position as and of the need for organized campaigns. Even in the most remote corners of Africa and Asia, we were confronted again and again by the influence of the suffragettes, mainly because newspapers eagerly seized on such sensational stories while ignoring more moderate efforts to achieve reforms. We were frequently forced to admit that radical action certainly makes the world sit up and take notice. On the other hand, our visit also influenced the women of China to adopt a calmer and better organized approach." p. 161

      From the essay: Aletta Jacobs in Historical Perspective by Harriet Pass Freidenreich

1.       "A pioneering physician and feminist, Aletta Jacobs had a twentieth-century vision, even though she lived most of her life during the Victorian era. As the first woman to attend university and receive a medical degree in the Netherlands, who then managed to combine a career with a companionate marriage and political activism, she can serve as a role model for modern professional women, although her example was difficult for other women of her own generation to emulate. Jacobs established what is often considered the first birth control clinic in the world. She also spearheaded campaigns for the deregulation of prostitution, the improvement of working conditions for women, and the introduction of woman suffrage in Holland. She was a prominent leader in both Dutch and international suffrage organizations and in the women's peace movement during World War I." p. 179

2.       "Jacobs was an extraordinary individual, but she was not alone in her endeavors. She was fortunate to have lived at a time when new choices and opportunities were becoming available for women. She was part of the first generation of European women physicians and feminists who helped push open educational and professional doors for themselves and for others and fought on behalf of women's rights and woman suffrage.

         Jacobs defied many of the conventions of her day and refused to live the life of a typical Victorian woman. Middle-class girls in the mid-nineteenth century were expected to remain within the domestic sphere as wives and mothers, but Jacobs rebelled against following in her mother's footsteps as a homemaker. Education for girls was segregated, except at the elementary level; Jacobs strongly advocated coeducation. Girls' high schools, often known as "finishing schools," taught modern languages, music, art, and handicrafts to prepare "young ladies" for marriage, but did not offer mathematics, physics, Greek, or Latin, which were prerequisites for admission to the all-male universities. Jacobs, however, hated attending a private school for girls and was not at all interested in learning etiquette and housekeeping skills; she decided to study medicine instead. The only acceptable career for a middle-class, single woman was teaching, whether as a governess or in a girls' school. Married women teachers had to relinquish their employment. Jacobs helped pave the way for women to become doctors, and she continued to practice medicine after her marriage, despite the fact that it was not regarded as proper for a middle-class married woman to work outside the home except as an unpaid volunteer.

         Aletta Jacobs was by no means a revolutionary by temperament, and she certainly did not wish to scandalize her neighbors, but her views and personal behavior were clearly ahead of her time. In late nineteenth-century Amsterdam, respectable women were not supposed to skate on the canals in winter or walk down certain thoroughfares in the afternoon, let alone appear in public unescorted or walk alone after dark. A "streetwalker" was assumed to be a prostitute, since a proper young woman would surely have a chaperone. Jacobs, however, enjoyed skating and insisted upon visiting her patients and her family, day or night, on foot. She also attended the theater by herself and participated in political meetings, often as the only woman. Before the turn of the century when sex and sexuality were absolutely taboo subjects for discussion in middle-class circles, and birth control and prostitution were not mentionable in polite company, especially by a woman, Jacobs provided contraceptive information and devices and delivered speeches on prostitution and women 's rights.

         Married Dutch and other European women lost their legal status as individuals and their right to own property, becoming the property of their husbands instead. Jacobs strongly objected to marriage as an institution that demeaned women. She desperately wanted to bear a child, but feared the stigma of illegitimacy. At the age of thirty-eight, after more than a decade of an intimate relationship, Jacobs decided to marry Carel Victor Gerritsen, but she retained her name, her bank account, and her own living quarters within their shared home, a highly unusual arrangement in the 1890s. As her reminiscences show, their friendship and marriage represented a genuine intellectual partnership based on equality and mutual respect. They particularly enjoyed traveling together and writing collaboratively." pp. 180-181

3.       "Aletta Jacobs was a medical pioneer; she did not have female role models to emulate. As a girl, she wanted to become a physician not because she had ever seen or even heard of a woman doctor but because her beloved father and oldest brother were both physicians." p. 181

4.       "Growing up in a Jewish household that valued learning greatly increased the odds that Aletta and her sisters would receive a higher education to prepare them for careers that would allow them to become self-supporting." p. 181

5.       "Unlike many fathers, Abraham Jacobs supported his favorite daughter's unconventional aspirations and, together with several of his Jewish medical colleagues, provided here with mentoring and tutoring both before and during medical school." p. 182

6.       List several other early physicians on page 182

7.       "She is frequently referred to as the founder of the first birth control clinic; her small-scale twice-weekly dispensary for women preceded the better known, more publicized clinics of Margaret Sanger in the United States and Marie Stopes in England by at least thirty-five years.

         Jacobs wanted to enable women to space their children and avoid having large families they could not afford. " p. 184

8.       "In the 1880s, however, Jacob's open advocacy of birth control scandalized Dutch society. Within medical circles, providing contraception was as controversial an issue in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century as abortion was to become later on. Although the practice of birth control was becoming more widespread, distribution of contraception information was not legal in most countries, as evident from the famous trials of Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh in England in 1878 and Margaret Sanger in new York in 1917.

         Although many patients requested contraceptive advice from the female physicians, most early women doctors, unlike Jacobs, were unwilling to provide such help in the nineteenth century because they feared jeopardizing their professional reputations. Jacob's insistence that medical doctors should be in charge of the dissemination of birth control brought her into conflict with her colleague Catherine van Tussenbroek, who objected to such a policy on the basis of medical ethics and reluctance to give husbands and doctors the right to control women's bodies. This situation began to change by the interwar years, when many women doctors, especially young socialists, supported the sex reform movement and helped establish family counseling clinics in Germany, England, and the United States. Abortion, however, remained illegal and beyond respectability in the medical world. The French physician Madeleine Pelletier (1874-1939), a woman who dressed in mannish clothing, had short hair, and associated with anarchists, was a rare example of a medical doctor who publicly supported and performed abortions in the early twentieth century. Aleta Jacobs was by no means as radical as Pelletier either politically or personally, but she too demonstrated considerable courage and the strength of her convictions by openly advocating and supplying birth control at the outset of hr career.

         Once she had relinquished her medical practice, Jacobs played down her association with contraception and became more actively involved with other feminist causes instead, but long after she retired in 1940, she was still consulted as a respected authority in the field." p. 185

9.       "It took far more personal courage to combat prostitution and venereal disease, topics that were even more taboo in the Victorian age than birth control. Somewhat on the model of Britain's Josephine Butler (1828-1906), Jacobs sought to deregulate prostitution by closing down state-run brothels and eliminating humiliating medical examinations for registered prostitutes. When Jacobs attacked prostitution, she was fighting against a double standard of morality, but she seems to have emphasized the medical aspects of the problem even more than the moral issues. She never became involved in the campaign against "white slavery" or other efforts aimed at preventing young girls from falling into the clutches of traffickers in women or rescuing prostitutes from a life of ill repute. In this, she differed not only from Britain's Josephine Butler but also from Bertha Pappenheim (1859-1936), the German Jewish feminist who established the Jüdische Frauenbund (League of Jewish Women) in 1904.

         Most medical doctors in Holland, as well as elsewhere in Europe, supported state regulation of prostitution as a means of curtailing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Jacobs, however, viewed the existing regulations, which were directed against prostitutes but not their patrons, as completely ineffective, since they stigmatized women but did not solve the rampant medical problems that resulted from prostitution. Seeking to get rid of prostitution as a legal institution through a process of education, Jacobs spoke publicly and published articles on this subject both at home and abroad. As was the case elsewhere in Europe, although prostitution was never abolished in the Netherlands, official brothels eventually disappeared and mandatory medical examinations ceased at least temporarily. In part due to the efforts of Aletta Jacobs and other Dutch feminists, Holland served as a European model for the declining incidence of venereal diseases in the early twentieth century." pp. 186-187

10.       "Although Jacobs was involved in many different feminist activities at various stages of her life, the cause to which she devoted herself for the longest period of time was woman suffrage." p. 188

11.       "By the time Aletta Jacobs wrote her memoir, women had obtained the right to vote in Holland and many other European states, but not France, Italy, or Spain. Once suffrage was achieved in various countries, the international women's movement, especially the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, but also its more conservative and broadly based antecedent, the International Council of Women, began to disintegrate." p. 189

12.       "Before the outbreak of World War I, Jacobs had not been actively engaged in pacifist activities. . ." p. 189

13.       "The most concrete result of the International Congress of Women at The Hague was the establishment of what was eventually called the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), which is considered the most important women's peace organization in the twentieth century. Aletta Jacobs was instrumental in founding this group and served as one of its vice presidents in its early years; Jane Addams, its first president, received a Noble Peace Prize in 1931.

          Once woman suffrage had been achieved in Holland in 1919, Jacobs continued her efforts on behalf of lasting world peace. She was very concerned about the dire economic situation in postwar Germany and the long-term negative effects of the Treaty of Versailles. By this time, however, Jacobs was approaching seventy years of age and in poor health; her financial situation had also deteriorated. Although she still attended international conferences as often as possible, she lacked the strength to embark on yet another personal crusade." p. 190

14.       "Most nineteenth century women physicians devote their lives to the practice of medicine. Although medical pioneers like Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Garret Anderson, and Franziska Tiburtius promoted women's medical education and often sympathized with and supported various feminist causes, they generally did not assume leadership positions in women's organizations. Similarly, the better known feminist leaders, such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the United States and Josephine Butler and Emily Davies in England, tend to be association with one, or perhaps two, aspects of the woman's movement. Jacob's traveling companion, Carrie Chapman Catt, for example, was primarily involved in suffrage work for most of her life, although she later engaged in women 's peace activities as well. By contrast, Jacobs as prominent in multiple spheres, both as a physician and as a feminist, often internationally as well as in Holland." p. 191

15.       Footnote 7, chapter 2

          "As a physician Jacobs was very much concerned with raising the level of nursing care both by recruiting able candidates and by professionalizing their training. She was involved in founding a Dutch organization, Nosokomos (Greek for 'hospital"), devoted to these purposes, and wrote articles for their journal of the same name about nursing in Switzerland, Maderia, Egypt, South Africa, and the Philppines.]

16.       The low status of nursing in the Netherlands partly accounts for Jacobs's refusal to see US birth control advocate and nurse Margaret Sanger when Sanger came to the Netherlands in 1915 seeking information; Jacobs felt strongly that physicians, not nurses or lay people, should be in charge of dispensing contraceptives." p. 212

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