Doctor Dolors Aleu: Spain’s First Woman Doctor

When Dolors Aleu i Riera was born in Barcelona in 1857, her bourgeoisie merchant parents had no idea that their daughter would go down in history as the first woman doctor in Spain. At the time, as was the case in all European countries, the medical profession as well as many others were not only dominated by men, but it was virtually unheard of for a woman to try to enter them.

The courage and tenacity of women like Dolors Aleu in the face of overwhelming odds would help spark what historians now refer to as “first-wave” feminism in 19th-century Europe, which would be reflected in the comparatively liberal literature, art and social discourse of the day, as well as important policy changes—such as women finally being admitted to European universities. The University of Zurich was the first to admit a female student in 1867, followed by the University of London the next year. 

The Struggle for Education

She was an only child, and her parents encouraged her intellectual precocity by hiring private tutors. She later studied at the University of Barcelona and the University of Valencia, earning her undergraduate degree in 1874. At the time, it was necessary for a woman to obtain a special permit in order to be allowed to study at a Spanish university; this was made possible by her father’s personal and professional connections to the Barcelona Mayor’s Office, the Municipal Police and the Governor General of Catalunya. He also paid for two bodyguards to accompany her as she went to and from her classes.

Medical schools in Catalunya started allowing female students to attend classes in 1872, and Dolors finished her medical studies in Valencia at the age of 22, in 1879. However, the university didn’t grant her permission to take the final graduation exam until 1882, as both the institution and the Spanish government were still uncomfortable with allowing women access to the same levels of higher education as male students.

Aleu got her doctorate that same year, making her only the second woman to get a medical degree in Spain. A young woman named Martina Castells Ballespí received her degree just a few days before Aleu. These two, along with Maria Helena Maseras i Ribera, were the first three female medical students in the country, and were widely covered by the press at the time. The media attention sparked a debate in the country’s highest administrative body for education at that time, the Consejo Escolar del Estado (Council of Public Instruction).

However, three female medical students unfortunately didn’t produce three female doctors. Castells died in childbirth before she could begin practicing medicine, and Maseras’ studies were plagued by so many bureaucratic problems that she eventually chose to leave school and teach, making Aleu the only one of the three to actually see patients.

A Groundbreaking Thesis

When Dolors Aleu presented her thesis, it was along with a letter from one of her mentors, accomplished doctor and pioneering dermatologist Joan Giné i Partagàs, who expressed his belief that women possess a “natural aptitude for the theoretical and practical studies of a medical career,” which was contrary to the prevailing view of the era. 

When Aleu’s thesis was published in 1883, it attracted widespread criticism for refuting the widely-held assumption of female intellectual inferiority. It was titled De la necesidad de encaminar por nueva sendero la educación hygienico-moral de la mujer (On the Need to Set the Hygienic and Moral Education of Women on a New Path); the original copy is stored at Barcelona’s Biblioteca Pública Arús. In it, she argued that denying women the opportunity to study medicine was an example of hypocrisy and social injustice. This made her one of the few voices that not only spoke out in favor of women's education, but also against the discrimination and systematic oppression that women faced in all aspects of their lives during the Victorian Era.

On one hand, females were perceived as “weak” and were therefore banned from the strenuous labors of higher education; however, on the other hand, they were regularly expected to take on jobs that required intense physical labor, such as farm or factory work, as well as the running of an entire household. They were expected to bear the full burden of caring for their families, yet their physical well-being was not cared for; among the many examples she used to illustrate this point, the most prominent was the prevailing unhealthiness of “proper” female attire, especially the corset. She argued that the desire to look slim and conform to societal expectations of femininity wasn’t worth the laundry list of adverse health effects, including reduced circulation in the thorax, hindered breathing, chest and organ constriction, and potential fainting spells due to a lack of oxygen. 

Her thesis didn’t only address societal inequities that impacted adult women; she also argued in favor of improving the overall caliber of girls’ schools, which often weren’t at the same level as schools for male students.

A Thriving Practice

Aleu’s specializations were pediatrics and gynecology, as she believed that these two fields were neglected by the all-male medical profession. Her practice thrived from the very beginning, in spite of the widespread discrimination against women in the medical profession. Her patients came from all layers of the city’s social strata, ranging from the wealthy and bourgeoisie, to artists and intellectuals, to the city’s poorest residents. Her patients were often women who had felt uncomfortable visiting a male doctor. Some were afraid to be physically examined by a strange man, while others feared that their health concerns would be dismissed or chalked up to female “hysteria,” the catch-all term for a plethora of symptoms or behaviors that male doctors didn’t know how to explain, ranging from fainting to chronic pain to an “excessive fondness for writing.”

Aleu opened her own medical consulting office in Barcelona—located first on the Rambla dels Caputxins, later on Rambla de Catalunya—which she successfully ran for a quarter century. She was also a general practitioner who donated her services to the Casa de la Caritat, a charity organization that helped Barcelona’s poorest women and children. She wrote and published texts that were intended to be informative and practical advice for women, such as Advice to a Mother: On the Diet, Cleanliness, Clothing, Sleep, Exercise, and Entertainment of Children. Another of her writings, called Advice from a Mother to Her Children, was one of the first published texts to discuss the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases.

She also found time to serve as the Professor of Domestic Hygiene at the Acadèmia de Ciències, Arts, i Oficis per a la Dona (Academy of Sciences, Arts and Offices for Women), which was founded in 1885 by professional harpist and liberal intellectual known professionally as Esmeralda Cercantes—her legal name was Clotilde Cerdà i Bosch, and she was the daughter of Catalan architect Idelfons Cerdà. Aleu was also the first female member of the Société Française d'Hygiène (French Society of Hygine); basic rules of hygiene that are taken for granted today were revolutionary concepts during Aleu’s lifetime, and her fight for them to be commonly accepted in both the medical community and the population at large is one of her greatest contributions to medicine.

A Lasting Legacy

She married a stockbroker named Camilo Cuyás Martí in 1883 and had two sons, Juan and Camilo, who would go on to study industrial engineering and medicine, respectively. Camilo died of tuberculosis in his early twenties, which was most likely contracted at Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic, where he was working as a young internist. His death is thought to have influenced the early death of his mother, who became deeply depressed and died a few short years later, in 1913. She practiced medicine right up until her death, at the age of 56.

In 1910, the Spanish king Alfonso XIII recognized women’s right to higher education, which was over three decades after Aleu had had to fight for a place at university. Today, there is a building at the University of Barcelona named after Aleu, a research training center accredited by Pompeu Fabra University, and other schools and institutions in Barcelona, Valencia and beyond that bear her name.