[The first woman surgeons in the Netherlands]

This article describes the position of woman surgeons in the Netherlands. In 1913 the first woman, Heleen Robert, was accepted as member of the Dutch Society of Surgery. Three others, Jeanne Knoop, Frieda van Hasselt and Rosalie Wijnberg, followed during the next ten years. The nomination of Rosalie Wijnberg caused a turbulent discussion as she was working as a gynaecologist and not as a surgeon. One can wonder about this argument as other members were gynaecologists too. It seems that the male attitudes towards women were changing as more women entered the male dominated field. Nevertheless, from 1931 on, the year in which the registration of specialists was created, a number of women succeeded in obtaining a registration in surgery. Four of them were interviewed: dr. D.A.E. Norel, A.G. Wiersum-de Kwaadsteniet, J. Leeksma-Lievense and A.A. Fierstra. The general opinion still is that surgery is not a female profession. At the moment there are some twenty women working as general surgeon compared to a seven hundred men.