Tawhida Ben Cheikh: Google dedicates doodle to Tunisia's first female physician

Today, Google illustrates a beautiful doodle to honor the renowned Tunisian physician Tawhida Ben Cheikh. She is also known as a magazine editor, social activist, and widely credited as the first female physician in Tunisia.

She was also a pioneer in women's medicine, in particular contraception and abortion access. Tawhida Ben Cheikh helped transform Tunisian medicine by providing women better access to contemporary healthcare. On this day in 2020, the Tunisian government issued a new 10-dinar note emblazoned with Ben Cheikh’s portrait—the world’s first-ever banknote to feature a female doctor.

Tewhida Ben Sheikh was born on January 2, 1909, in Tunis, Tunisia. Her early education was at Tunisia's first public school for Muslim girls, which was established by "Tunisian nationalists and liberal French protectorate authorities". While attending this school, Tawhida Ben Sheikh was taught Arabic, French, the study of the Qur'an, and modern subjects.

 She traveled to the School of Medicine in Paris to pursue her education, earning a degree in medicine in 1936. Upon her return to Tunis, she was given a dinner in her honor by local physicians.

In the same year, Tawhida Ben Cheikh made history when she opened her free medical practice. She was specializing in gynecology and she directed the maternity department of the city’s Charles-Nicolle hospital in 1955 in Tunisia.

Tawhida Ben Cheikh was also an "active" supporter of family planning in the 1960s and 1970s. She also instructed doctors in abortion procedures. Then in the ‘70s, she founded Tunisia’s first family planning clinic. She has also contributed to numerous women’s organizations and founded Leïla, the country’s first French-language women’s magazine. The famous Tunisian Physician, Tawhida Ben Cheikh died on December 6, 2010.

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