<P> As per the documentary "A Midwife's Tale", historian of 18th century America, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, follows the diary of Martha Ballard, which proves to be a telling source of women's roles as medical practitioners . Out of the different occupations women took on around this time, midwifery was the best paid of them all . In the 18th century, households tended to have an abundance of children largely in part to have a helping hand in responsibilities and to combat high mortality rates . Despite the high chance of complications in labor, Martha Ballard, specifically, had high success rates in delivering healthy babies to healthy mothers . </P> <P> A shift from women midwifery to male obstetrics occurs in the growth of medical practices such as the founding of the American Medical Association . Instead of assisting labor in the basis of an emergency, there were doctors such as Dr. Benjamin Page who wanted to take over the delivery of babies completely; putting midwifery second . This is an example of the growing sense of competition between male physicians and female midwives as a rise in obstetrics took hold . The education of women on the basis of midwifery was stunted by both physicians and public - health reformers, driving midwifery to be seen as out of practice . Societal roles also played a fact in the downfall of the practice in midwifery because women were unable to obtain the education needed for licensing and once married, women were to embrace a domestic lifestyle . </P> <P> The involvement of women in the field of medicine has been recorded in several early civilizations . An Egyptian of the Early Dynastic Period or Old Kingdom of Egypt, Merit - Ptah, described in an inscription as "chief physician", is the earliest woman named in the history of science . Agamede was cited by Homer as a healer in ancient Greece before the Trojan War . Agnodice was the first female physician to practice legally in 4th century BC Athens . Metrodora was a physician and generally regarded as the first medical writer . Her book, On the Diseases and Cures of Women, was the oldest medical book written by a female and was often referenced by many other female physicians . She credited much of her writings to the ideologies of Hippocrates . </P> <Dl> <Dt> Pioneering women in ancient medicine </Dt> </Dl>

When did the first woman become a doctor
find me the text answering this question