International Conference of Women Physicians
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| Date | September 15 – October 25, 1919 |
|---|---|
| Duration | Six weeks |
| Venue | Waldorf Astoria |
| Location | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Type | International convening of women physicians |
| Cause | Recognition of the importance of health as the foundation for power and satisfaction in life |
| Motive | Desire to develop closer relations with women physicians of other countries in order that the physicians of the U.S. might learn more of social conditions outside of this country and also learn how other women physicians were handling social problems in their respective countries. |
| Organised by | Social Morality Committee of the War Work Council of the National Board of the YWCA (600 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, New York City) |
| Participants | 32 countries |
| Outcome | Medical Women's International Association |
International Conference of Women Physicians was a convening in New York City organized by the Social Morality Committee of the War Work Council of the National Board of the YWCA. Thirty-two countries were represented at the event, which took place at the Waldorf Astoria from September 15 to October 25, 1919. The conference was conducted in four languages, English, French, Italian, and German, with Contessa Maria Albertina Loschi of Rome as the official interpreter, and Anna L. Brown as the conference chair. This was the first international conference of women physicians in history.
Throughout the various discussions, there could be distinguished three groups of women, with three differing trends of thought. There were representatives of those pioneer women who years ago faced the issues of prostitution and disease, and who could see part of their fight won, although another part of it was to be renewed under modern conditions. There were those who have helped to construct new ideals and plan out new programs for physical well-being in every line, including a healthy sex life. The third group, which was engaged in building upon the accomplishments of the first two, were chiefly concerned with discovering and analyzing the foundations of character: how much is temperament, how much environment, enquiring what are the factors in friendship, how does the mind of the child develop, and how we may fathom the meaning of what goes on in ourselves all the time, in the unconscious depths of our being.