Since the beginning of time women have been trying to define their place in society,
demanding equality and justice. Through legal and political battles, various women's movements,
marches and protests this great task has been nearly accomplished. In the latter part of the 18th
century, women were generally classified as delicate, unintelligent creatures. If the necessity arose for
a women to be employed they were classified a lower, poorer part of the population. Women had
great struggle in gaining the education to obtain equal opportunities as the male population. Many
fields of employment were strictly off limits for women. One such was Medicine and the practice of.
For a woman to try and bridge the vast social and educational barriers that would arise on the
attempt of applying for Medical school was atrocious. There was although one woman who
conquered these barriers and pioneered the struggle for women's equality as Canada's first female
Emily Stowe is a true Canadian heroine. She received a good education and was trained to
be a teacher, a profession at which she was very successful. Despite her many achievements, which
were more than any nineteenth-century women could ever hope for, Emily wanted more.
Emily Howard Jennings was born on May 1, 1831, in Norwich, Ontario. Emily was a
incredibly intelligent young girl. At the early age of 15 she obtained a position teaching school
children. In 1853, when she was 22, Emily took a six month course to become a qualified teacher
and graduated in May, 1854. Soon afterwards Emily achieved one of her many great
accomplishments by becoming the first woman principal in Canada. In 1856, Emily was married to
John Stowe and left the teaching profession to become a homemaker. Through the years of 1857-
1863 Emily and John had 3 children together. Soon after the birth of their third child John becam
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