The invisible woman in the great medical discoveries

How many times have you seen streets, halls or rooms with a woman’s name and how many times have you seen a man’s name? The invisibility What comes to your mind is the same that was presented in medicine and the Sciences

Berenice Chavarria Tenorio / Semak News

Mexico City. – For centuries, a world medicine and the Sciences It was made by men, and then the most important discoveries were attributed to them, and they are even registered in their names, which shows exclusion And the invisibility who lived Women for decades.

For a better understanding, analyze the following: How many times have you seen streets, halls or rooms with the name of a woman and how many times have you seen a man’s name? The invisibility What comes to your mind is the same that was presented in medicine and the Sciences.

Fournier’s gangrene, Alzheimer’s, Down syndrome, Parkinson’s or Pap smears are some of the conditions or treatments named after their discoverers.

But it is important to note that they did not make these discoveries on their own, as is the case with Martha GautierAnd the scientific who co-discovered the chromosome responsible for Down syndrome in 1959. However, despite the years of research that led to the understanding of this genetic disorder, this progress is attributed only to John Langdon Haydon Down and later to two other scientists.

“It was Marthe Gauthier who actually cultured the cells, analyzed the metaphase, and realized that patients with Down syndrome had 47 chromosomes. Thus, it is clear that his crucial contribution has not, to date, received proper credit,” the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) said in the document . Trisomy 21: the claimed authorship.

Another case is the case study known as Pap smearnamed after George Papanicolaou, who – with his wife Andromache “Mary” Mavrogeni – discovered the test that is used to diagnose cervical cancer.

What should be mentioned is that Mary was helping him in addition to his wife laboratory And the subject of the research, not recognized as an essential part of the aforementioned discovery, even remained invisible in the name given to the study.

She was devoted to him in his work; said Olga Stamatio, great-granddaughter of George’s sister Pap smear for BBC.

It was Mary who for 20 years, every day, underwent “vaginal swab” tests to help Research made by her husband. Between domestic and scientific tasks, so Women For several years to finally be erased from Date.

“My dear wife was by my side. If I am able to accomplish anything useful, it is largely due to your help and dedication. Yes, I owe much to his loyalty and effort,” confessed Papanicolaou; However, it was not enough to name his discovery in a different way that does not give him all the credit.

No, it’s not about undermining medical advances that have saved thousands of lives Women. It all comes down to the importance of naming women as part of the Sciences and the healthIt is the same that has been analyzed from the male vision for decades to the point of uniformity of symptoms or ailments that appear differently from one person to another.

there’s the Revolution: In mention of Marthe Gautier and Marie Mavrogini as part of the story. So we can stop referring to a study of interest to us women as “Papanicolaou” – Erase what’s behind its discovery – and keep the term “cervical cytology”, because we can’t and shouldn’t give up more space.