In 1875, she became the first woman to graduate from a French medical university. A victory over the prejudices of the 19th century.
On January 18 of this year, La Poste published 600,000 copies of a stamp bearing the effigy of Madeleine Brès, née Gebelin, the first Frenchwoman to be honored, on June 3, 1875, with the title of doctor in medicine in our country. country. She was born on November 25, 1842 in Bouillargues, in the Gard. His father is a farrier and wheelwright, the one who repairs the wheels of harnessed cars. In particular, he takes care of those at the Nîmes hospital, where he often goes and where Madeleine, from the age of 10, likes to accompany him. She chats with patients in the hallways, admires the work of doctors and nurses. A nun, seduced by his curiosity and quick-wittedness, taught him the art of bandages. She has only one idea in mind: to become a doctor. An impossible dream, not that a law officially prohibits it, but it’s just like. To enroll in medicine, you must have passed the baccalaureate, an examination prohibited to women. In addition, her parents married her at the age of 15 to Adrien Brès, an omnibus driver. However, under French law at the time, married women did not have a civil majority. To obtain a diploma, they need the approval of their father or their husband. A plan that these modest men do not consider for her.
In 1866, aged 24, a good mother and a good wife, she had three children and was completely bored at home. The Brès couple settled in Paris. No longer holding on, Madeleine, who writes perfectly, plays her all-out and lands an audience with Charles Adolphe Wurtz, dean of the faculty of medicine in Paris. Seduced by his personality, Wurtz will help him all his life. He encouraged her to take the baccalaureate accessible to women since 1861 … but only to girls from large families. Besides, no establishment accepts to take it. It is therefore as a free candidate, with the agreement of her husband, that she prepares the exam and obtains it, in 1868. But a major obstacle persists: university medical studies are prohibited for women. The ostracism of men against the entry of women into the medical profession is almost general. The vice-president of the Paris Society of Medicine sets the tone: “To be a doctor, you must have an open and prompt intelligence, a solid and varied education, a serious and firm character, great composure, a mixture of kindness and energy, a complete empire over all his sensations, moral vigor and, if necessary, muscular strength. Isn’t that the opposite of feminine nature? For the vast majority of men, women can only be an excellent nurse!
She addresses a petition to the Minister of Public Instruction asking for women’s access to medicine
Supported by Wurtz and driven by unwavering tenacity, Madeleine petitioned the Minister of Public Education, Victor Duruy, asking for women’s access to medicine. The question goes to the Council of Ministers one day when, luckily, it is chaired by Empress Eugenie, who demands that the request be validated: “I hope that these young women will find imitators, now that the way is open ”, she will then declare.
With the green light from her husband, Madeleine enrolled in the Paris medical school. However, a law persists which prohibits women from practicing as external or internal in hospitals in Paris. Professor Paul Broca, brilliant neurologist, agrees to take her as a “trainee student”. An opportunity opens up: since 1870 France has been at war against Prussia. The young doctors are going into battle, the hospitals are short of interns. Madeleine was then recruited. His conduct during the siege of Paris is exemplary. Seven years after entering college, she presented her thesis, “Breast and Breastfeeding,” showing that the chemical composition of breast milk changes over time to adapt to the baby’s needs. Mention “extremely good”! She is finally a doctor and settles in a practice in Paris, where she will care exclusively for women and children.
In 1885, she founded her own nursery, a model of its kind, where, at her expense, children were looked after and cared for free of charge until the age of 3. Marie-Louise Loubet, wife of the President of the Republic, will visit the establishment. The Minister of the Interior will entrust him with study missions. She will direct the journal “Hygiene of women and children”, will write childcare books. She died in 1921, at the age of 79, half blind, alone and destitute. Operating theaters, nurseries and a 13th-century street in Paris bear his name today. France was, thanks to her, one of the first countries to allow medical studies to women, which helped to generalize this measure everywhere else in the world. 
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