“Why Don’t You Go to Nursing School?”

Abstract

Abstract The article analyzes the gendered experience at Hebrew University Medical School in its first two decades, 1950–70. Contrary to earlier studies on women in medicine, which focused on immigrant doctors to late Ottoman and mandatory Palestine, gendering the future cadre of doctors in post-1948 Israel has not been discussed. Based on archival documents, newspapers of the period, and interviews with the school’s graduates, the article argues that the school maintained a consistent though informal quota policy, which also differentiated between country-born and immigrant students. It examines students’ interactions with the school, beginning with their decision to apply for medical school and going through the interview process, the experience of student life, and their attempts to balance medical school with marriage and motherhood.