Marika Azzopardi

She was not quite convinced she really wanted to do the interview. “I’ve been through the story so many times….. isn’t it a bit boring?” I admitted I had never heard it before, so at least, for my sake, it was worth re-telling once again. Carmen Joslin, very pragmatically tells me she was the first female dentist in Malta and shrugs it off as nothing special. After I hear her story, I’m not so convinced.

Mrs Joslin or rather Dr Joslin nee Attard, graduated in 1960 but her introduction to the possibility of studying dentistry actually began way before that. As a child she was born in the then simple quiet village of Balzan, just a few years before World War II broke out. “I was born in 1938 and my sister and I were sent to St Joseph High School in Valletta. My parents were not wealthy but they both instilled in us the early encouraging notion of going to University. You have to understand that back  then, University was not free as it is today and it was expensive for that time. Moreover, nobody really encouraged daughters to go to University, as it was only the boys who were considered in that regard. It was a new thing to have a girl go for a university education and in that sense I still marvel at how avant-garde my parents were in their thinking.”

Another unique habit for the times was that as part of her parents’ resolve to keep the daughters’ teeth as healthy as possible, annual check-ups at the dentist were the norm. It was during one of these routine visits that Carmen Joslin became fascinated with the idea of dentistry. “I was sitting on the dentist’s chair with my mouth wide open, when my father flippantly mentioned that we (my sister and myself) wanted to go to university and asked for the dentist’s advice in this regard. It was his and my mother’s conviction in the first place, but anyway, that is beside the point. As part of his reply, the late Dr Tony Demajo who was our dentist at the time commented that there were no female dentists and this comment remained ingrained in my head. One of my characteristics as a person is that I don’t want to be herded with the rest – I prefer doing my own thing, and the notion of being a first or at least one of the first, enticed me. From that day onwards, the thought never left my mind. There were some hurdles I had to over come. An ‘O’ level pass in Matriculation Maltese was a requirement for entry to university. Maltese was never taught at my school and so I had to study it privately after school hours.”

Even whilst the mention of university study was frequent, Carmen Joslin admits she did not really know what university was all about, didn’t even know where the building proper was situated. But by the time she was through her ‘O’Levels and ready to start attending the university which was in Valletta at the time, she found she had to first attend a two year course in Science and Art, topics not taught by the nuns. The two years meant to give her and others grounding in the basic notions of the sciences and other subjects. It was a day and age when youngsters had no real knowledge of science, unlike today when most know at least the basic way their body functions and something about the organs it includes. As Dr Joslin succinctly puts it, “We didn’t even know we had ovaries, let alone the rest of it.”

This was in 1954 when the total intake at university for the year was very small and very few of these were females. It was considered a waste of time and money to educate females to that educational level as they would be getting married in a few years time anyway.

“The first two years I spent at University were very different to my school days. We girls felt like birds that had been given their freedom When the two years were over I applied for the four year course leading to a degree in Dental surgery, the only woman who did so. I must admit that throughout all of my studies, I never found one single professor or anybody else for that matter, who discouraged me. My teachers were Professor Edigio Lapira , and Professor Joseph Mangion, besides many others.”

The first two years were spent studying anatomy, physiology, bacteriology amongst other subjects.  The last two years were intensive and included subjects such as dental surgery, pathology and conservative dentistry, however they also studied general medicine and general surgery. Carmen Joslin still marvels at how people believe a dentist is just somebody who pulls out teeth. It was an exciting time for her – and at the end of it, only seven students had passed in her course.

She placed third in the course and remained the only lady on board, sharing graduation with other dental surgeons – Dr Herbert Messina Ferrante, Dr Victor Demicoli, Dr George Otibah (Nigerian), Dr Joe Bartolo, Dr Ronald Delia and Dr (now Professor) George Zarb.

In the meantime, she had met the young man who would become her husband – Sidney Joslin. “We met at university and had been seeing each other for some four years when I graduated. After graduation, Sidney went to the UK to study and we initially planned that we would marry and I would join him and continue working as a dentist there. It never materialised as he came back to Malta and we settled on the island. But in the meantime, once I finished university which had been one of the most enjoyable periods of my life … problems started in earnest.”

Her first dismay was to find that women received only three quarters of what their male counterparts received in terms of salary. This was already a major let-down for her. Her first employment was within St Luke’s Hospital where she spent a relatively short period of time. She formed part of a team and had the benefit of being able to consult with others where difficult cases were concerned. Whilst that lasted it was good. But once word transpired that she planned to get married, she was asked to present herself to administration. “They politely but matter-of-factly suggested I present a letter of resignation, telling me that married women were not accepted as employees of the hospital. I was appalled. It was news to me and I refused to resign, telling them that if they didn’t want me there anymore, it was up to them to fire me. They eventually did so by means of a letter diplomatically telling me my services were no longer required. I was dismayed and utterly appalled by the discrimination of it all.”

Mrs Joslin did not give up but went into private practise with the very same dental surgeon who had seen her teeth as a child – Dr Demajo. However she never took to the private practise scenario much, missing the teamwork experienced previously. Once the babies were born, she started working on reduced hours, drastically diminishing the time spent at the dental clinic. “With three babies on board, I opted out. Babies and small children require a mother’s attention continuously. Eventually when the policies at St Luke’s Hospital changed, I was invited to resume my work there, but by that time quite some years had elapsed and I did not feel up to it. Mostly because I felt I was not up to date with the latest techniques, and dentistry being the practical profession that it is, you cannot rely on theory only.”

Today Mrs Joslin is mother of four adult siblings and grandmother of five and keeps busy with her garden, reading and spending time with animals which are another love of her life. She has also discovered the thrills of computing and admits she spends many interesting hours engrossed in the effort. “Those who know me as Dr Joslin still refer to me that way but most people know me simply as Mrs Joslin and that suits me just fine. It seems a long time ago but what I trained for has certainly stood me in good stead – the formation you get at university is important. I would have probably kept my job at the hospital had I been allowed to do so. But that was the way things worked out back then…. .”