STOVIA did not initially accept women, but the policy changed due in part to the efforts of Aletta Jacobs (the first female physician in the Netherlands). When Jacobs visited Indonesia (or the Dutch East Indies at the time) in 1911, she pressed the issue with then Governor-General A.W.F. Idenburg.[3] After women were allowed to enroll, a further hurdle existed where they could not be employed by Civil Medical Service (Burgerlijke geneeskundige dienst) and therefore had to pay for their studies at STOVIA.