Stowe, Emily Howard (1831–1903)
Stowe, Emily Howard (1831–1903)
Canadian physician and feminist. Name variations: Emily Jennings Stowe. Born Emily Howard Jennings in South Norwich, Upper Canada (now Ontario), May 1, 1831; died April 30, 1903, in Muskoka, north of Toronto, Canada; dau. of Solomon and Hannah (Howard) Jennings; New York College of Medicine for Women, MD, 1867; m. John Stowe, 1856; children: Augusta Stowe Gullen (1857–1943, physician).
Became a teacher (1847); applied to Victoria College in Coburg, Ontario, but was refused because of gender; appointed principal of the public school in Brantford, Ontario, the 1st woman principal in Canada; after graduating from New York's College of Medicine, returned to Canada, established an unlicensed medical practice in Toronto, and launched her 13-year fight to be admitted to the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ontario; finally allowed to take classes at the Toronto Faculty of Medicine, became the 1st licensed female physician in Canada (1880); a leading suffragist, was also the founder and 1st president of the Dominion Woman Suffrage Association.