Aletta Jacobs

Aletta Jacobs (1854–1929) was born in Sappemeer in Groningen in 1854, the eighth of eleven children. Her mother was a housewife and her father a doctor. In 1878 she graduated as a medical doctor from the University of Amsterdam, after which she set up her own GP practice. She married Carel Victor Gerritsen in 1884 and gave birth to a son in 1893 who died the same day. Other published works include The Woman: Her Body and Internal Organs (1899), three epistolary collections and the Dutch translation of Women and Economics by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1900).

Recollections

The autobiography of the Netherlands’ first female doctor and most famous feminist

(Boom, 2019, 314 pages)

Aletta Jacobs is the Dutch icon of the battle for equal rights for women. Thanks to her daring, persistence and intellect, she made it possible for women to vote, study and save money in their own bank accounts. In the list of her many achievements, Aletta Jacobs was the first woman to attend high school, the first to complete a university degree and the first to get a doctorate. Aside from this, she was also a gifted writer.

Author

Aletta Jacobs

Recollections

The autobiography of the Netherlands’ first female doctor and most famous feminist

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