“Medical Work for Women by Women”: Rosetta Sherwood Hall’s Perspective on Women’s Hospitals and Women's Education

Rosetta Sherwood Hall (1865-1951) was a leading advocate for advancing the medical education of Korean women. Her advocacy was grounded in the belief that women doctors should be the primary caregivers of women, and that women should manage women's hospitals. She viewed women's hospitals not only as healthcare facilities but also as crucial venues for training women doctors. Hall argued that the location of a women’s hospital should be determined by the need to create an efficient infrastructure that would expand medical and nursing education for Korean women. Despite the trend of merging mission hospitals in the 1920s, Hall was cautious about integrating women’s hospitals into institutions managed by men. She believed such mergers would compromise the value and status of women’s hospitals. Hall supported both the establishment of a women’s medical school and the inclusion of women in existing medical schools to enhance their medical education. Her focus was not on whether these institutions should be missionary or state-run but on maximizing the effectiveness of medical education for Korean women. At a time when both missionaries and colonial authorities were reducing opportunities for women’s education inside and outside Korea, Hall chose to rely on the will of the Korean people rather than on the missionaries or colonial government. While many women missionaries shared the goal of “women's work for women,” not all of them were committed to the specific aims of “medical work for women by women” and “hospitals for women by women.” Hall was exceptional in her dedication to these goals, as she maintained her commitment despite fluctuating missionary circumstances and changing health and education policies under the Choson Dynasty and the colonial government from the late 19th century to the early 1930s. She effectively leveraged her diverse networks to advance medical education for Korean women. Her establishment of the Korean Women’s Medical Training Institute led by Koreans, represented her enduring vision for women’s education and proved to be a continuation of her broader educational efforts within and beyond the mission field.