In ancient Greece, women were forbidden to study medicine for several years until someone broke the law.
Born in 300 BCE, Agnodice cut her hair and entered
Agnodice: The First Greek Female Doctor Who Defied the Law
Alexandria medical school dressed as a ɱaп. While walking the streets of Athens after completing her medical education, she heard the cries of a woɱaп in labour.
However, the woɱaп did not want Agnodice to touch her although she was in severe pain, because she thought Agnodice was a ɱaп. Agnodice proved that she was a woɱaп by removing her clothes without anyone seeing and helped the woɱaп deliver her baby.
The story would soon spread among the women and all the women who were sick began to go to Agnodice. The male doctors grew envious and accused Agnodice, whom they thought was male, of seducing female patients. At her trial, Agnodice, stood before the court and proved that she was a woɱaп but this ᴛι̇ɱe, she was sentenced to death for studying medicine and practicing medicine as a woɱaп.
Women revolted at the sentence, especially the wives of the judges who had given the death penalty. Some said that if Agnodice was killed, they would go to their deaths with her. Unable to withstand the pressures of their wives and other women, the judges lifted Agnodice’s sentence, and from then on, women were allowed to practice medicine, provided they only looked after women.
Source: Science Explorist