Sophia Jex-Blake and the Battle for Women Doctors

While studying medicine in Edinburgh, Sophia Jex-Blake became both the public face and the secret architect behind the 1870s campaign for women doctors. As opponents sought to remove women students and prevent the rise of “lady doctors,” Jex-Blake’s anonymous journalism became her most powerful weapon. She deliberately encouraged readers to assume that her articles had been composed by male allies a belief that endured for over 150 years and anonymously cited her own work to bolster her authority. Drawing on Sarah Ghasedi’s archival discovery that Jex-Blake secretly worked as a paid journalist for the Scotsman throughout the campaign, this book is the first to tell the full story of a woman whose real impact was obscured for generations by gendered criticism and misrepresentation.