Social Reformer, Canadian Folk Figure. She is known for being the first woman to graduate from a Canadian university with a degree in medicine, and she is legendary for her outburst in a lecture hall where she chastised the professor, and the mostly male students who were mocking her being there. Her mother, Emily Stowe, became the first woman to practice medicine in Canada, but only after graduating from a U.S. school. Emily fought to change the law that prohobited women from obtaining a medical license, and was succesful in 1880. Augusta married Dr. John Gullen, one of the founders of Western Hospital, located on Bathurst St. in Toronto. She worked there as a Demonstrator of Anatomy, and later as Lecturer on Diseases of Children. Despite a busy medical career, Augusta continued to champion women's rights. In 1903 she succeeded her mother as president of the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association, remaining president after it became the Canadian Suffrage Association in 1907. She retired from the position in 1911 but continued to agitate vigorously for "votes for women" until this was granted during World War I. Around this time she became one of the founding members of the Women's College Hospital in Toronto. It is said that a visitor once asked her if everyone in the hospital was female. "Of course not," she replied. "Half the babies born are male." She died in her home at the age of 85.
Social Reformer, Canadian Folk Figure. She is known for being the first woman to graduate from a Canadian university with a degree in medicine, and she is legendary for her outburst in a lecture hall where she chastised the professor, and the mostly male students who were mocking her being there. Her mother, Emily Stowe, became the first woman to practice medicine in Canada, but only after graduating from a U.S. school. Emily fought to change the law that prohobited women from obtaining a medical license, and was succesful in 1880. Augusta married Dr. John Gullen, one of the founders of Western Hospital, located on Bathurst St. in Toronto. She worked there as a Demonstrator of Anatomy, and later as Lecturer on Diseases of Children. Despite a busy medical career, Augusta continued to champion women's rights. In 1903 she succeeded her mother as president of the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association, remaining president after it became the Canadian Suffrage Association in 1907. She retired from the position in 1911 but continued to agitate vigorously for "votes for women" until this was granted during World War I. Around this time she became one of the founding members of the Women's College Hospital in Toronto. It is said that a visitor once asked her if everyone in the hospital was female. "Of course not," she replied. "Half the babies born are male." She died in her home at the age of 85.
Bio by: Patrick R
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