“Educated female medics”: a study of the history of women’s medical education in Russia

The article analyses I.V. Zimin and A.A. Zhuravlev’s monograph “Pavlov First St. Petersburg State Medical University: Milestones on the Grand Path: The Start of Women’s Medical Education in Russia and the Women’s Medical Institute (18th - early 20th centuries)” viewed in the context of current socio-cultural and historiographical situation. Highly praised for discovering unique archival materials and putting them into scientific usage the authors offered the first detailed description of how women’s higher medical education started in Russia tracing it from the 19th century through the foundation of the Women’s Medical Institute. The article presents an important reconstruction of the multifaceted life and activities of the institute which laid foundation for Pavlov First St. Petersburg State Medical University. It is concluded that the monograph is a highly valuable and important contribution to the national historiographic research on female education in Russia.