Nationality U.S. Occupation Physician | Title M.D. Name Mary Bennett | |
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Born June 7, 1860 ( 1860-06-07 ) Salinas, California Died 1949, Mountain View, California, United States | ||
Mary Elizabeth Bennett Ritter (June 7, 1860 – March 17, 1949) was a physician and an advocate for women's rights and public health issues in Berkeley, CA. She was known as a pioneer in her time because women were largely excluded from medical training and employment. Despite restricted access, Ritter built a successful private practice. She also advocated for women in medical professional, training for nurses, and sanitation standards in hospitals and doctor's offices. She helped start the Pacific Dispensary for Women and Children, free clinics for poor women and children. In 1933, she published her autobiography, which is entitled More Than Gold in California.
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Biography
Ritter was born in Salinas, California. She was the daughter of a farmers, William Bennett and Abigail Noble Bennett, who did not support her ambition to become a doctor. Before entering medical school, Ritter earned an independent income, which she saved to pay for educational expenses. In 1886, she earned her medical degree from Cooper Medical College in San Francisco, which is now Stanford School of Medicine.
She remained in the Bay area and built a successful personal practice for 20 years. She treated both rich and poor on a sliding scale and was known to provide free services for those most in need. In addition to her medical practice, Ritter was also an advocate. In 1891, she worked with women UC medical students, with funding from Phoebe Hearst, the only women on the UC board of regents, in order to build a gymnasium for women students. She also advocated for better housing for women students. In 1935, UC Berkeley awarded Ritter an honorary PhD for her work as an unofficial first dean of women.
She married zoologist William Emerson Ritter on June 23, 1891. In 1909, Ritter retired her medical practice and moved to La Jolla, CA, where her husband was employed. In La Jolla, Ritter continued her advocacy work and gave many lectures about public health issues as well as women and infant care.
Mary Bennett Ritter wrote an autobiography called, More than Gold in California, detailing her work as a physician, her work as a women's advocate, and her role as a partner in her husband's biological projects.
Ritter died in Mountain View, California.