Signing the pledge

I signed the pledge today. Not for the usual reasons, but because 24 March has been designated the day that women scientists and engineers should be honoured and signatories have agreed to write a blog about them - in memory of Ada Lovelace, arguably the first computer programmer.

Although I am not a pharmacist — I have a mixed degree in biological sciences and the history and philosophy of science — I have been struck by the welcome given to women by the profession.

When the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain was founded in 1841, it was tacitly understood that its members would be men, in spite of the fact that many women were already successful chemists and druggists, often in businesses which had originally belonged to a husband or father.

The Pharmacy Act of 1852 made provision for an examination, and those who passed it were entitled to have their names entered on the Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists which was established in 1853. Membership of the Pharmaceutical Society was not obligatory.

The 1868 Pharmacy Act set up an another examination which entitled successful candidates to be registered as chemists and druggists. These examinations became known as the major and minor examinations.

From 1868, anybody wishing to open a pharmacy to dispense prescriptions containing poisons, or to sell poisons, had to pass one of the qualifying examinations and obtain a certificate of registration, unless they obtained a certificate to prove that they were already in business, and were considered to be suitable for admission to the register. Under the terms of the Society's charter, members had to have their own business. Those who did not, but were registered under the 1868 Act, could become associates.

The Pharmacy Act of 1868 gave women the same right as men to sit the Society's examinations for registration. In June, 1873, Alice Vickery, having passed the minor examination, became the first woman to qualify as a chemist and druggist. In December, 1875, the first woman to pass the major examination was Isabella Skinner Clarke. However, although she was a pharmaceutical chemist, it was not until 1879, after lengthy debates by the Council, that she was finally admitted to membership of the Pharmaceutical Society — roughly 130 years ago.

So I salute these two women who paved the way and did so much to further the role of women as scientists and whose legacy is a profession now dominated by women: a healthcare profession firmly embedded in science.

I am indebted to W. A. Jackson, MSc, FRPharmS - author of an article on women and pharmacy that appeared in The Journal in December 1999 — for much of the detail reproduced here.