American Mission Nursing in Iran, 1907-1947: Faith, Gender and Profession

Abstract

This dissertation explores the Presbyterian medical mission in Iran from its founding to World War II, paying particular attention to the important, but largely neglected, role of nurses within the mission. Drawing on Presbyterian mission records, it analyzes the work and activities of twenty-three women who were appointed as missionary nurses between 1907, when the first nurse was assigned to the mission, and 1947, when nurses established an institute of higher nursing education in Iran. While science and faith are often viewed as conflicting categories, this work sheds light on professional identity formation among a group of religious women.

This dissertation explores the dynamics of gender, faith, and professionalism among missionary nurses in Iran. It examines their initial motivations for entering missionary service, their day-to-day nursing work, and their expressions of religiosity. Although these women experienced tensions between their faith, the evangelizing thrust of the mission and their profession, they consistently worked to implement American and international nursing standards in Iran. They strategically utilized theological arguments, gendered ideas about womens work, and their professional identity as nurses to secure a surprising degree of autonomy within mission medicine and the field of healthcare in Iran.

Between 1916 and 1936, missionary nurses operated the only nursing schools in the country. They recruited and trained Iranian students in an effort to set standards for an emerging nursing profession. Iranian graduate nurses took advantage of nursing education and some went on to cultivate prominent nursing careers.

This study demonstrates the importance of including nurses in histories of medicine and mission medicine more specifically. It shows that missionary nurses had their own political and professional agendas separate from physicians. These goals intersected with the Iranian governments interest in modernizing the nation. As a result, while the Iranian government increasing regulated and restricted the work of mission physicians, it mobilized American nursing knowledge and personnel in its construction of state medical services. Even after American mission doctors lost influence and mission hospitals were closed in the World War II era, missionary nurses continued to work in Iran.