Cecilia Grierson
Cecilia Grierson nasceu em uma família de imigrantes escoceses e irlandeses em 22 de novembro de 1859. Teve uma infância rural no Uruguai, primeiro e depois em Entre Ríos, onde seu pai tinha uma fazenda. Teve acesso a uma boa educação em escolas inglesas e a uma grande biblioteca familiar, antes que a vida se tornasse repleta de dificuldades e obstáculos que testariam a integridade de sua personalidade.
Após a revolução de Entre Ríos de 1870, os negócios da família começaram a declinar e Cecília, com apenas dez anos, foi chamada para casa para ajudar a mãe com os irmãos mais novos. Sem saber, iniciou o caminho de dificuldades e tragédias familiares, que marcaram sua vida e forjaram um espírito inquebrantável.
Os tremores políticos reduziram o patrimônio familiar, e a morte do pai, quando Cecília ainda não tinha 12 anos, só contribuiu para agravar a dolorosa situação. Empreendedora e lutadora como era, com apenas 14 anos, Cecília já comandava a escola rural que sua mãe teve que abrir no interior onde moravam para sustentar toda a família.
Depois de alguns anos, conseguiu viajar para Buenos Aires e formalizar seus estudos como professora normal. Nesta cidade ela deve ter trabalhado como governanta. Mais tarde, ela lembraria que teve que alongar os vestidos para conseguir essa posição: “naquela época a idade, e talvez o conhecimento, era julgado pelo comprimento da saia”.
Formou-se professora em 1878 e conseguiu um cargo no colégio misto da freguesia de San Cristóbal. Tudo parecia indicar que a sua vocação era a docência, mas a vida voltou a colocá-la no comando do seu destino. Uma amiga adoeceu e Cecília queria encontrar uma cura para salvá-la de um problema respiratório crônico. Tomou então uma decisão, inconcebível para as mulheres do seu tempo, que mudaria a sua vida e a de muitos dos seus pares: estudaria medicina, carreira naquela época exclusivamente masculina.
Não havia precedente em toda a América Latina de uma mulher formada em medicina. E embora não houvesse nenhuma proibição explícita que impedisse o registo, havia uma armadilha regulamentar, um requisito impossível de cumprir. Para se inscrever no programa era preciso ter passado em latim, mas essa matéria era ministrada apenas no Colégio Nacional de Buenos Aires, instituição que na época era apenas para meninos.
Armed with a will of steel, she managed to be admitted to the race. She graduated on July 2, 1889, becoming our country's first female doctor. When presenting her graduation thesis, Cecilia made explicit the motto that had long guided her life, “res non verba” (deeds not words). Her actions would confirm her vocation as a transformer of the reality in which she lived, although she was not always able to overcome the prejudices of the time and sometimes her aspirations crashed against the canons imposed by a society that resisted women's access to disciplines reserved until then for men.
In 1894, she entered a competition to be a substitute professor of the Chair of Obstetrics for midwives, but the competition was declared void. “It was only because of my condition as a woman, as reported by listeners and one of the members of the examining board, that the jury made a strange and unique ruling in this competition: not to grant the chair to either me or my competitor. . The reasons and arguments presented on that occasion would fill a chapter against feminism,” she would recall years later.
In 1886 she founded the School of Nurses, later she created the Argentine Medical Association, the Argentine First Aid Society and the National Obstetric Association of Midwives. She was a member of the Commission for the Deaf and Mute, secretary of the Children's Board, and inspector of the Night Asylum. In 1899 she participated in the International Women's Congress in London, which elected her vice president. Returning to the country, in 1900 she founded the National Council of Women of the Argentine Republic and later the Home Technical School. She also founded the National Ladies' Lyceum. She presided over the First Congress of the Society of Argentine University Women and was part of the founding group of the Argentine Society of Biotypology, Eugenics and Social Medicine.
Cecilia devoted herself fully to the institutions to which she belonged, but she did not hesitate when it came to denouncing irregularities. In 1910 she left the Women's Council, which she had created, with strong criticism of the board of directors. As she said, the Council had become “a small circle full of personalisms. The board of directors (…) has not known how to act impartially in the distribution of positions, honors and material means and has believed that it could dispose of the common funds at will.” And she pointed out the origin of those evils: “Perhaps the mistake has been to appoint the leaders from among those who in our country only understand living room life and nothing else; "They are not prepared to perform such positions, like those in older countries, where many ladies of high society are also capable of understanding their duties towards other women, cooperating with their well-being and progress..."
“We must awaken currents of goodness,” she expressed. Her lucidity, vocation for service and contact with the reality of her time led her to carry out practical initiatives, such as the use of the mandatory uniform for nurses, the use of sirens in ambulances, the distribution of toys to hospitalized children and the decoration of pediatric wards. Her legacy includes numerous writings on various topics such as Practical Massage, Education of the Blind, Care of the Sick, First Aid in Cases of Accidents, and Nurse's Guide.
Referências:
Pigna, Felipe: https://www.elhistoriador.com.ar/ceciliagrierson/
Alfredo G. Kohn Loncarica, Cecilia Grierson. Vida y obra de la primera médica argentina, Buenos Aires, 1976, pp. 4748.
Cecilia Grierson, Decadencia del Consejo Nacional de la Mujer de la República Argentina, Buenos Aires, 1910, pág. 4.
Alfredo G. Kohn Loncarica, op. Cit., pág. 92
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11/2021
