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ENTITY reports on aletta jacobsPhoto via Instagram/marquis.la.abeja2

Aletta Jacobs was a dedicated suffragist. But, she was more than just her accomplishments for women’s rights. She was also the first female physician in the Netherlands.

However, her name isn’t a household name yet.

So, here are five facts you need to know about Aletta Henriette Jacobs.

1 Aletta Jacobs wanted to be a doctor since she was young.

ENTITY reports on aletta jacobs

Photo via Instagram/groningermuseum

Jacobs was born on Feb. 9, 1854 in Sappemeer, Netherlands to a Jewish family.

Her father, Abraham Jacobs, was a doctor and would take her along on his visits to patients. These trips inspired her to be a doctor but she was discouraged when she noticed the lack of education for young girls. At the time, girls were only allowed to study languages, art, music and prepare how to be a housewife.

Two close family friends who were also physicians, however, helped Jacobs start her career path as a physician. Dr. L. Ali Cohen helped her train for pharmacy school. With the help of minister J.R. Thorbecke and Dr. S.S. Rosenstein, head of the University of Groningen, she was granted permission to attend the university. She attended the University in 1871. Her and her sister, Charlotte, were the first female students. She graduated in 1879 and became the first female physician in the Netherlands.

Jacobs then moved to London to further pursue her clinical training and ended up becoming a birth control advocate and suffragist.

She opened her own practice in Amsterdam and introduced the diaphragm to the Netherlands, a form of contraception.

2 Aletta Jacobs opened a clinic for the poor.

Her clinic in Amsterdam was known as the first birth control clinic in the world. This clinic actually showed her the importance of providing women with birth control.

In her autobiography, Memories: My Life as an International Leader in Health, Suffrage, and Peace,” she wrote:

“For social, moral, and medical reasons, women from different social classes had often asked me for some form of contraception. I had always had to fend off these requests without providing adequate explanation or advice. Eventually I sent letters to a number of women whose need was greatest. I told them that I believed I had found a means to help them, but before I could fully recommend it, they would have to agree to regular examinations during the first months of its use. Some of these women eventually agreed to the experiment, and the results were such that, some months later, I was able to announce that I could provide a safe and effective contraceptive.”

3 Aletta Jacobs retired from medicine to become an activist for women’s rights.

ENTITY reports on aletta jacobs

Photo via Instagram/nationaalarchief

Jacobs attended Amsterdam University and received her medical degree in 1878. But, in 1903, she gave up her practice to fight for women’s rights. She became president of the Dutch suffrage organization. She also joined the International Woman Suffrage Alliance that came about in Berlin in 1904. At the International Council of Women meeting in London in 1899, she met leaders such as Susan B. Anthony. This meeting inspired her to dedicate her life to support the struggle for gender equality.

Jacobs’ husband died in 1905 from cancer, so in 1906, she traveled the Austro-Hungarian empire with the council’s president Carrie Chapman Catt. They hosted conferences and brought feminist and social economic theory to the Netherlands. They also traveled through South Africa, the Middle East and Asian countries to encourage women to fight to improve their lives.

Jacobs continued to travel around Europe, meeting with leaders to cultivate mediation. She even met with President Woodrow Wilson to try and convince him to get involved. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.

Although this may seem like a “failure,” Jacobs didn’t feel like she had wasted her time. Before she died, she wrote a letter to Catt, saying, “My dear Carrie, I feel sure we have not lived for nothing. We have done our task and we can leave the world with the conviction that we have left it in a better condition than we have found it.”

4 Aletta Jacobs called an international women’s convention at the Hague.

After the outbreak of the second world war in 1914, Jacobs called an international women’s conference at the Hague in the Netherlands. She invited American reformer Jane Addams to chair the conference. They met from April 28, 1915 to May 1, 1915 and by the end of it, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom was formed.

Jacobs wrote in her autobiography, “Women will soon have political power. Woman suffrage and permanent peace will go together. When a country is in a state of mind to grant the vote to its women, it is a sign that that country is ripe for permanent peace. Women don’t feel as men do about war. They are the mothers of the race. Men think of the economic results, women think of the grief and pain.”

5 Aletta Jacobs fought for women until her last day.

ENTITY reports on aletta jacobs

Photo via Instagram/universityofgroningen

Jacobs continued to fight for the enfranchisement of Dutch women and continued to travel to conferences to spread the word. She died on Aug. 19, 1929 in the Netherlands and today she’s still honored with a statue of herself outside of the University of Groningen. A secondary school she attended was also renamed to Dr. Aletta Jacobs College.

Aletta Jacobs broke many glass ceilings for women today, and now that you know everything you need to know about her, you can rightfully honor her memory.

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