Fe Del Mundo, the Filipina who built the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines and the inventor of bamboo incubator that helped families in rural areas was the first woman to get into Harvard Medical University. But she wasn’t even supposed to be there. Harvard was predominantly an all-male school, Harvard did not accept women not until 1945. When she arrived in Boston and went to the dormitory assigned to her in a letter from the director of the hospital housing, much to her surprise she found herself in a men’s dorm. Unknowingly the Harvard officials had admitted a female to their all-male student body. But because her record was so strong the head of the pediatrics department saw no reason not to accept her. Thus, upsetting Harvard tradition, she became the first Philippine woman and the only female at the time to be enrolled at the Harvard Medical School.
This is only one of many stories of empowered women who created history.
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