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A Practical Illustration of "Woman's Right to Labor" / A Letter from Marie E. Zakrzewska, M.D. Late of Berlin, Prussia cover

A Practical Illustration of "Woman's Right to Labor" / A Letter from Marie E. Zakrzewska, M.D. Late of Berlin, Prussia

Chapter 9: Footnotes
By Marie E. Zakrzewska
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About This Book

A physician and advocate recounts her experiences promoting women's access to skilled trades and professions, blending autobiographical detail with practical argument. She describes offers of apprenticeships from sympathetic men, the reluctance of many women to undertake lengthy training because of marriage and social expectations, and the hardship that follows inadequate preparation. Arguing for systematic, equal training alongside men, she calls for attainable examples of ordinary women who pursue careers, criticizes partial measures like segregated facilities, and urges steady preparation and social change to enable sustained female participation in labor.

Footnotes

[1] Pronounced Zak-shef-ska.

[2] "The undersigned, Secretary of Legation of the United States of America, certifies that Miss Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska has exhibited to him very strong recommendations from the highest professional authorities of Prussia, as a scientific, practical, experienced accoucheuse of unusual talent and skill. She has been chief accoucheuse in the Royal Hospital of Berlin, and possesses a certificate of her superiority from the Board of Directors of that institution. She has not only manifested great talent as a practitioner, but also as a teacher; and enjoys the advantage of a moral and irreproachable private character. She has attained this high rank over many female competitors in the same branch; there being more than fifty[A] in the city of Berlin who threaten, by their acknowledged excellence, to monopolize the obstetric art."

Theo. S. Fay.

"Legation United States, Berlin, Jan. 26, 1853."

[SEAL.]

[A] "Upon inquiry, I find that, instead of fifty, there are one hundred and ten female accoucheuses in Berlin.

"THEO. S. FAY."

[3] Here I have to remark, that, not being able to speak English, I conducted my business at the different stores either in German or French, as I easily found some of the employées who could speak one of these languages.