[FIGHTERS AGAINST THE EXCLUSION OF WOMEN IN MEDICINE: THE ISRAELI ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN DOCTORS AND ITS CHAIRWOMAN DR. SHOSHANA SZKOP-FRANKEL].

In 1938, some 40 Israeli women doctors met in the home of Dr. Hannah Jacob-Peller in Tel-Aviv, to consider the possibility of forming an association of women doctors to represent their interests. They chose Dr. Jacob-Peller as chairwoman, decided that the organization's center would be in Tel-Aviv and that they would hold meetings on socio-professional matters and offer a lecture program. World War II delayed the official creation of the association, only achieved in 1948, when 673 female practitioners were registered. That same year, the association joined the MWIA (Medical Women's International Association). The Israeli association acted in four areas: the raising of professional standards of female practitioners, by giving relevant lectures; advancement of women in medicine by providing opportunities; fighting professional discrimination; and developing international contacts. Dr. Shoshana Szkop-Frankel, the first female plastic surgeon in Israel, was one of the group's most central activists from the start. She was the treasurer and secretary. Her intensive activities won her deep respect, both at home and abroad, and in January, 1963, she was elected vice-chairperson of the international association. Then in 1965, she was elected chairwoman of the Israeli Women Doctors' Association, a position she held continuously until 1999! What is the MWIA? When was it founded? and for what purpose? and what were the missions the Israeli association took upon itself? This paper is intended to provide answers to these questions and to describe Dr. Szkop-Frankels achievements over those many years, within the two organizations, while at the same time succeeding in combining her medical career as a plastic surgeon, with her public work and her commitments as the mother of her children.