Emily Stowe

Dr. Emily Stowe

Dr. Emily Howard Stowe (May 1, 1831-April 30, 1903) was the first female doctor to practise in Canada, and an activist for women's rights and suffrage. Since no medical school would accept a woman in the 1860s, she earned her degree in the United States, graduating from the New York Medical College for Women in 1867, and returned to open a practice in Toronto, Ontario.

Despite having the required qualifications, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario refused to license Stowe because no Canadian school would allow a woman to sit the qualifying examinations. Stowe and Jenny Trout were finally admitted for preparatory courses and qualifying exams at the Toronto School of Medicine . Stowe became the second female licensed physician in Canada in 1880.

Her daughter, Augusta Stowe-Gullen , was the first woman to earn a medical degree in Canada.