Women and Medicine

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), recognized as the founder of modern nursing, significantly influenced medical care through her work during the Crimean War and her reforms in nursing education and health care standards. This article examines how Nightingale's legacy is represented in Polish school history textbooks. The analysis shows that there are few references to her achievements, reflecting a broader trend in history education that prioritizes political and military narratives at the expense of social and medical history. The study is based on a content analysis of history textbooks used in Polish secondary education after 1989. The findings reveal that Nightingale is rarely mentioned, usually in brief references related to the Crimean War, with only a few recent textbooks providing more detailed accounts of her pioneering work in nursing and public health. The article aims to demonstrate that this lack of representation exposes a significant gap in history education, where the achievements of women in medicine are underappreciated. The authors call for a more inclusive approach to history teaching that integrates the stories of women like Nightingale, offering students a broader perspective on history that includes not only political and military events but also the significant contributions of women in shaping modern health care.