Emily Stowe

Emily Stowe  (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Emily_Stowe.jpg)

Emily Stowe was born on May 1st, 1831 in Norwich Township Oxford Country, Ontario. Emily Stowe was the oldest out of the six daughters from parents, Hannah Howard and Soloman Jennings. There were absolutely no boys in the family.

Emily who had a struggle to achieve equality for woman which began in 1852, when she applied for Victoria College in Cobourg. The college turned her down not because she wasn’t smart enough, but because she was a female. She didn’t give up then though, she kept on applying for colleges. Then after Emily applied for the Normal Collage School in Upper Canada. Emily entered the college in November of 1853, and the college did not care if she was a female or not they still let her enter. She graduated with first class honours in 1854. After Emily graduated she was then hired as principle of a Brantford public school. In upper Canada Emily Stowe was the first woman principle. She taught and ran at the school until she got married in 1856.

In 1856 Emily Stowe married John Fiuscia Michael Hewhard Stowe. After about seven years Emily and John had three children. Their children’s names were Anne Augusta, John Howard, and Frank Jennings. Later on after marriage and kids, John, Emily's husband developed tuberculosis. This also developed Emily's interest with different kinds of medicines, which Emily's mother was also interested in. John died from the tuberculosis in 1891. Emily had then decided to become a doctor, even if she was a woman.

The president of the Toronto School of Medicine on 1870 granted special permission to Emily Stowe and fellow student Jenny Kidd Trout to attend classes with men to learn about different kinds of medicines. Emily Stowe needed a license to become a doctor but she had no proof of having taken the exams to get her license.

On July 16, 1880 the college of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario granted Emily Stowe to at least practice medicine in Canada. Based on Emily Stowe's past experience she was either the first or second licensed female physician to practice medicine in Canada, either before or after Jenny Kidd Trout. Emily Stowe's daughter Anne Augusta Stowe Gullen was the first woman to earn a medical degree in Canada.

The whole time of Emily's search for medical schools, she always knew that it was not fair to woman how men got more rights than woman. So in 1889, Emily founded the Toronto Woman’s Literacy club, which is an organization for women. Emily was a prominent early suffragist, considered by the mother of the movement in Canada. When the dominion woman’s enfranchisement association was founded in 1889, Emily Stowe became its first president until her death on April 30th, 1903, the day before her 74th birthday.

Emily Stowe died at the age of 73, eleven years after the death in her husband John. If she had lived another few years, she would have seen the day where women got the vote in Canada. Much of that credit goes to her, Dr. Emily Stowe, who was a teacher, physician, and an passionate suffragist.

Emily slowed down after breaking her hip when she fell from a platform. Then after she retired from medical practice and became less active with the woman’s movement program. Three years later, however, she and her daughter, Anne Augusta both participated in a well attended and highly publicized mock parliament. This was Canada’s first one.

Emily Stowe might have had some rough times in her life, but overall I think she was a very successful woman, and without her we have not had some of the things we have today. No matter what the obstacle was she never gave up, and kept on trying harder, which is one of the reasons why Emily Stowe is my hero!