Emily Stowe
| Emily Howard Jennings Stowe | |
|---|---|
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| Personal details | |
| Born | May 1, 1831 Norwich Township, Oxford County, Ontario |
| Died | April 30, 1903 (aged 71) Muskoka, Ontario |
| Spouse(s) | John Stowe |
| Children | Ann Augusta Stowe, John Howard Stowe, Frank Jennings Stowe |
| Alma mater | New York Medical College for Women |
| Profession | Doctor, Suffragist |
| Religion | Quaker until 1879, Unitarian after 1879 |
Emily Howard Stowe (née Jennings, May 1, 1831 – April 29, 1903) was the first female doctor to practise in Canada and an activist for women's rights and suffrage. Stowe helped found the women's suffrage movement in Canada and campaigned for the country's first medical college for women.
Emily Howard Jennings Stowe was born in Norwich Township, Oxford County, Ontario to Hannah Howard and Solomon Jennings. While Solomon converted to Methodism, Hannah raised Stowe and her five sisters as Quakers. In the tradition of the Society of Friends, Stowe's parents encouraged her to obtain an education; they sent her to a co-educational Quaker school in Providence, Rhode Island.
After teaching at local schools for seven years, Stowe’s public struggle to achieve equality for women began in 1852, when she applied for admission to Victoria College, Cobourg, Ontario. Refused on the grounds that she was female, she applied to the Normal School for Upper Canada, which Egerton Ryerson had recently founded in Toronto. She entered in November 1853 and was graduated with first-class honours in 1854. Hired as principal of a Brantford, Ontario public school, she was the first woman to be a principal of a public school in Upper Canada. She taught there until her marriage in 1856 (see Marriage bar).
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