Catharine van Tussenbroek

Dutch physician and writer, editor

Catharine van Tussenbroek
Van Tussenbroek c. 1890
Born	Albertina Philippina Catharina van Tussenbroek (1852-08-04)4 August 1852 Utrecht, Kingdom of the Netherlands
Died	5 May 1925(1925-05-05) (aged 72) Amsterdam, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Occupation(s)	physician, feminist
Known for	first physician to confirm ovarian pregnancy clinically

Catharine van Tussenbroek (4 August 1852 – 5 May 1925) was a Dutch physician and feminist. She was the second woman to qualify as a physician in the Netherlands and the first physician to confirm evidence of the ovarian type of ectopic pregnancy. A foundation that administers research grants was set up in her name to continue her legacy of empowering women.

Biography

Albertina Philippina Catharina van Tussenbroek was born on 4 August 1852 in Utrecht to Cornelia van der Voort and Gerardus van Tussenbroek, a carpenter.^[1] Trained as a teacher, van Tussenbroek earned her certificate as an assistant teacher in 1870 and as a head teacher in 1875.^[2] She became the first woman to be admitted to Utrecht University when she embarked on her medical studies in 1880,^[3]^[4] earning her Ph.D. in Medicine in 1887.^[2] She moved to Amsterdam upon graduation and began working as a general practitioner focusing on women and children. In February 1898, she became a member of the Dutch Medical Examination Board and shortly afterward was appointed professor of gynecology at Utrecht University.^[5] In 1890, she was appointed assistant gynecologist at the Boerhaave Kliniek operated by Dr. Mendes de Leon in Amsterdam. At the time, few women physicians became specialists.

She spent eight years studying and working with de Leon.^[6] She became widely recognized and was frequently called for consultations outside the city of Amsterdam.^[3] By 1891, she had become secretary of the Dutch Society of Gynecology.^[1]

Advocating for women's health and hygiene, van Tussenbroek spoke out against constricting corsets and advocated wearing loose clothing. She pressed for reform of abortion laws and campaigned against needless surgical sterilization of women, claiming that the only beneficiaries were husbands.^[2] She presented a paper "The Lack of Life Spirit in Our Young Women and Girls" in 1898 at the opening of the Exhibition of Women's Work held in The Hague, which argued for women's economic independence.^[7] She believed that the lack of opportunity available to women and a life with the sole goal of marriage was detrimental to health, calling instead for physical activity and vocational training.^[8]

"First and foremost, I believe we women need to have trust and respect in ourselves. I believe that through diligent labour we will achieve economic independence. The conventional image of the woman will then evolve into a new concept. How it will look, I dare not predict. But of one thing I am certain: we women embody the ideal whether we bear the broom, wield the scalpel or stand at the helm of the state."

Catharine van Tussenbroek speaking on "The Lack of Life Spirit in Our Young Women and Girls" in 1898.^[9]

Van Tussenbroek enjoyed research; had the needs of women been less urgent, she would have preferred to continue undertaking microscopic studies rather than gynecology.^[10] In 1899, she "demonstrated beyond question" the first accurate clinical and histological description of the existence of the rare condition of ovarian pregnancy.^[11]^[12] To be a true case of ovarian pregnancy, Otto Spiegelberg had set forth criteria that were required to be present.^[13] Van Tussenbroek settled the question of the existence of ovarian pregnancy ^[14] with her report finding that the ovary and tube on the right side were normal, that sac upon the ovary contained an embryo, that the gestation-sac was connected via a cord, and that the sac had folds of lutein tissue.^[15] The medical establishment was skeptical,^[16]^[17] but three years after her report, her results were confirmed, though skepticism prevailed into the 1920s.^[17]

In 1902, she co-authored a study on cervical cancer in the Netherlands. She served as an editor for the Netherlands Journal of Medicine,^[1] as well as the Netherlands Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.^[2] Van Tussenbroek was a board member of the Dutch Society for the Advancement of Medicine.^[1] She also was active as a writer, frequently contributing to medical journals. Together with Dr. J. Blok and C. H. de Jong, in 1898 she published "Inleiding tot de studie der schoolhygiëne" (Introduction to the Study of School Hygiene) and in 1911 "De ontwikkeling der aseptische verloskunde in Nederland" (The Development of Aseptic Obstetrics in the Netherlands).^[18]

Politically active, van Tussenbroek was a member of the Society for Women's Suffrage^[2] and wore a velvet strap pin of the portrait of the American suffragette Carrie Chapman Catt.^[1] Between 1910 and 1916, she served as vice-president and later president of the National Association for Female Labor. In 1919, the year that Dutch women were enfranchised, she ran as a candidate for the General Netherlands Women's Organization (Dutch: Algemeene Nederlandsche Vrouwenorganisatie) (ANVO) in the parliamentary elections, although she was defeated.^[2]

Van Tussenbroek died on 5 May 1925 in Amsterdam.^[1]

Legacy

After van Tussenbroek's death, Dr. Marianne Herwerden, a member of the Dutch Association of Women in Academic Education (Dutch: Vereniging van Vrouwen met een Academische Opleiding) (VVAO), set up a trust fund managed by the association in 1926.^[1] The fund, which bears van Tussenbroek's name provides funds for Dutch women scholars to study at home or abroad and complete graduate research.^[19]

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Bosch 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Hilhorst 2013.
^ ^a ^b De Courant 1925, p. 4.
^ Clark 2008, p. 218.
^ Illustrierte Zeitung 1898, pp. 1–2.
^ Binneveld & Dekker 1993, p. 126.
^ Bosch 2005, p. 61.
^ de Haan 1998, p. 32.
^ Utrechtsch Provinciaal 1925, p. 18.
^ Binneveld & Dekker 1993, p. 131.
^ Rizk 2010, p. 267.
^ McDonald 1914, pp. 92–93.
^ Thorek 1926, p. 108.
^ Thorek 1926, p. 106.
^ Jacobson 1908, p. 262.
^ British Medical Journal 1900, p. 1442.
^ ^a ^b Ray 1921, p. 437.
^ Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant 1925, p. 22.
^ Scholarship Portal 2015.

Sources

Binneveld, Hans; Dekker, Rudolf (1993). Curing and Insuring: Essays on Illness in Past Times : the Netherlands, Belgium, England, and Italy, 16th–20th Centuries : Proceedings of the Conference Illness and History, Rotterdam, 16 November 1990. Hilversum, the Netherlands: Uitgeverij Verloren. ISBN 90-6550-408-7.
Bosch, Mineke (2005). "History and Historiography of First-Wave Feminism in the Netherlands, 1860–1922". In Paletschek, Sylvia; Pietrow-Ennker, Bianka (eds.). Women's Emancipation Movements in the Nineteenth Century: A European Perspective. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-6707-1.
Bosch, Mineke (23 January 2015). "Tussenbroek, Albertina Philippina Catharina van (1852–1925)". Huygens ING (in Dutch). Den Haag, Netherlands. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
Clark, Linda L. (2008). Women and Achievement in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-65098-4.
de Haan, Francisca (1998). Gender and the Politics of Office Work: The Netherlands 1860–1940. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 978-90-5356-304-5.
Hilhorst, Mariek (2013). "Catharine van Tussenbroek biografie (04/08/1852-05/05/1925)". Atria (in Dutch). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Kennisinstituut voor Emancipatie en Vrouwengeschiedenis. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
Jacobson, Sidney D. (1908). "True Primary Ovarian Pregnancy; Operation; Recovery". In Brooks, Henry T. (ed.). Contributions to the science of medicine and surgery : in celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary, 1882–1907, of the founding of the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital. New York, New York: Jacobson New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital Faculty and Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
McDonald, Ellice (1914). Studies in gynecology and obstetrics. New York, New York: American Medical Publishing Co. OCLC 11339026.
Ray, Henry M. (June 1921). "Primary Ovarian and Primary Abdominal Pregnancy—Their Morphological Possibility". Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics. 32. Chicago, Illinois: Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Franklin H. Martin Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
Rizk, Botros R. M. B. (2010). Ultrasonography in Reproductive Medicine and Infertility. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-48457-2.
Thorek, Max (February 1926). "Case of Ovarian Pregnancy with Histological Findings". The Illinois Medical Journal. 49. Chicago, Illinois: Illinois State Medical Society: 106–111. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
"Begrafenis dr. Catherine v. Tussenbroek". Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant (in Dutch). 8 May 1925. contained in "Archief Alberta Philippina Catharine van Tussenbroek" (PDF) (in Dutch). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Atria. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
"Der erste weibliche Professor für Frauenheilkunde". llustrierte Zeitung (in German). Leipzig. 1 September 1898. contained in "Archief Alberta Philippina Catharine van Tussenbroek" (PDF) (in Dutch). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Atria. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
"Dr. C. Tussenbroek Research Grants (long-term)". Scholarship Portal. 22 June 2015. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
"Dr. Catharina van Tussenbroek". De Courant (in Dutch). Amsterdam. 6 May 1925. contained in "Archief Alberta Philippina Catharine van Tussenbroek" (PDF) (in Dutch). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Atria. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
"Obstetrical Society of London". British Medical Journal. 2 (2081). London, England: Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society: 1442. 17 November 1900. PMC 2463948.
"Staat en Regeering, hof en diplomatie, legen en vloot personalia: Dr. Catharine van Tussenbroek, 1852—1925". Utrechtsch Provinciaal en stedelijk Dagblad (in Dutch). 8 May 1925. contained in "Archief Alberta Philippina Catharine van Tussenbroek" (PDF) (in Dutch). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Atria. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.