From Hygenius we have the story of Agnodice...

"A certain maiden named Agnodice desired to learn medicine and since she desired to learn she cut her hair, donned the clothes of a man and became a student of Herophilos. After she learned medicine, she heard a woman crying out in the throes of labor so she went to her assistance. The woman, thinking she was a man, refused her help; but Agnodice lifted up her clothes and revealed herself to be a woman and was thus able to treat her patient. When the male doctors found that their service were not wanted by the women, they began to accuse Agnodice, saying that she had seduced the women and they accused the women of feigning illness [to get visits from Agnodice]. When she was brought before the law court, the men began to condemn Agnodice... At this point the wives of the leading men arrived saying ‘you men are not spouses but enemies since you are condemning her who discovered health for us’. Then the Athenians emended the law so that freeborn women could study medicine.”

I first read about Agnodice over in the Trivia Thread at Vita Femina Antiqua. From there I set out upon a web search and came upon the site Antiqua Medicina: Women in Medicine (http://www.med.virginia.edu/hs-library/historical/antiqua/text.htm). The author wonders if Agnodice was a real woman or just a legend.

Medicine was very much a male dominated profession in the ancient world, but gynecology was not always the province of male physicians. Before Hippocrates came onto the scene, women took care of women. Childbirth was handled by female relatives and neighbors. Some of these women became known for their skills and were accorded the informal title of maia or “midwife”.

The author of the above site purports: "The shift from female control to male involvement came about because men were suspicious of women’s reproductive autonomy. Female patients described in the Hippocratic treatises, and for that matter, in Greek literature in general, were often suspect by men because of the male anxiety about a wife’s potential for sabotaging her husband’s production of an heir."

Fact or fiction, I think the tale of Agnodice represents the struggle for women to have access to healthcare, which was just as relevant in the ancient world as it is today.